Express MIDLAND
www.midlandexpress.com.au
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Wellbeing pages 19 – 21
Express MIDLAND
pages 23 – 27
MIDLAND PROPERTY
.com.au
& Living pages 29 – 39
Pub push reignited A push to re-open Romsey’s only pub has been renewed with a petition attracting nearly 2500 signatures since it launched last week. Among those eager to see life returned to Romsey's former pub are Andrew and John Scanlon whose family owned the pub from 1897 to 1936. They are pictured with Liz Dormontt. Story page 3.
LANES PLAN DIVIDES sponse to community concerns about safety on the road and a disturbing crash history, with six fatalities and 36 serious-injury crashes between 2001 and 2020. Melanie Hotton, director Loddon Mallee for the Department of Transport, said extensive consultation was conducted with the Macedon Ranges community including local emergency services. “We’re continuing to engage with the community on intersection upgrades and the location of pedestrian and cycling improvements on Black Forest Drive to ensure any changes meet local needs,” Ms Hotton said. One Woodend resident, who is both a cyclist and a motorist, said the upgrade should enhance the safety of all road users,
Angela Crawford
KN259945/L
Opinion is divided among Woodend and Macedon residents over a Regional Roads Victoria plan to reconfigure Black Forest Drive from four lanes to two. The $6 million project for 11.7 kilometres of works on the road linking the two towns will see the current four-lane configuration reduced to two lanes plus a three-metrewide painted centre median and on-road cycle lanes. Protected pedestrian refuges and lighting will also be installed and intersections upgraded to cater for safer turning to and from Black Forest Drive. RRV said the improvements were in re-
cyclists, pedestrians and children getting on and off school buses each morning and afternoon. "It's safer crossing two lanes than four," he said. "A lot of people are thinking this project is for cyclists and tourists but it's not. "The slip lanes and bike lanes will enable people to get on and off Black Forest Drive more easily and safely." But Macedon resident Ian Northcott said he believed the road would be less safe with two lanes instead of four. "The cyclists will have much less room to ride on a single path and I just think it's incredible that they're taking a four-lane road that's quite safe back to a two-lane
road," he said. What has most surprised community members is that a proposal like this one had been tried before and reversed. Cycle lanes were installed along the road in 2010 by a Labor state government but the road was returned to four lanes the following year by the new Liberal state government in response to objections by the local community over general access and emergency route needs. Woodend resident Russell Servis also questioned the latest plan, suggesting Black Forest Drive had already been safely upgraded with wire rope barriers and a reduced speed limit of 80km/h. Continued page 9.
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