MAY 1, 2018 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE
Four-lane fix unveiled By Serena Seyfort The “long overdue” duplication of Sunbury Road is being funded in the state budget. Sunbury Road will be widened from two to four lanes between Powlett Street and Bulla-Diggers Rest Road as part of the state’s $2.2 billion Suburban Roads Upgrade. A shared cycling and pedestrian path will also be installed using the funds allocated in today’s Victorian 2018-19 budget. The upgrades come after 13 crashes were recorded on the stretch of road in the five years to July, 2016, leaving one person dead and seven seriously injured, according to VicRoads. Sunbury MP Josh Bull said the upgrades would “slash congestion and improve safety” on the road. “Locals who use Sunbury Road every day know this upgrade is long overdue,” Mr Bull said.
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Time’s up for chimes
It is an upgrade to a bottleneck
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- Facebook comment
Hume councillor Jack Medcraft has been lobbying for safety improvements at the road for five years after being involved in a near-miss on the major access route between Sunbury and Melbourne Airport. Hume mayor Geoff Porter called for duplication of Sunbury Road about two months ago when the government announced it was installing flexible barriers on the road, between Tullamarine Freeway and Oaklands Road. “Council believes that, ultimately, duplication of Sunbury Road is the best solution to addressing road safety, as well as congestion, on Sunbury Road,” he told Star Weekly in February. Residents have taken to Facebook to complain that the upgrades to Sunbury Road will not be very beneficial while there is no effort to change congestion at Bulla. “Four lanes will still become two over the bridge at Bulla,” one resident posted on Facebook. “[It] just means that you will get to a standstill crawl a bit faster.” “It is an upgrade to a bottleneck,” said another. Residents and Hume council have been campaigning for upgrades to the Bulla section for years. VicRoads data shows that about 21,000 vehicles use Sunbury Road each day.
Dale O’Sullivan at the historic Woodend Clock Tower. (Marco De Luca)
A local family’s push to install bells or chimes to the historic Woodend Clock Tower has fallen on deaf ears. Father and son Dale and Tim O’Sullivan are campaigning to have an electronic sound system installed inside the tower, which is also the town’s war memorial, using a fund from Peter O’Sullivan, Tim’s grandfather. But the idea has been knocked back by Woodend RSL and Macedon Ranges council. The pair have also requested a plaque acknowledging Peter O’Sullivan be installed at the tower in return for the financial aid. Tim first proposed the idea to the council in January, claiming “the public clock has remained incomplete for 92 years”. He claims that when the Woodend community raised the money to erect the war memorial in the early 1900s, the Woodend Shire did not have enough funds to install the chimes, as was intended. Tim said installing an electronic sound system “would be a wonderful gift … to assist public memory of the fallen etc and to tell the time”. But all 11 Woodend Returned and Service League committee members voted against the idea at one of their meetings, according to president Peter Whitelaw. “Woodend RSL thinks it’s a desecration of the war memorial,” he said, referring to the suggestion of installing a plaque. Mr Whitelaw said his investigation revealed the original design of the tower did not include chimes, and he believed residents would not want the noise. Macedon Ranges council officers have provided similar reasons for why they shut down the proposal, following consultation with Woodend RSL, councillors and the Woodend and District Heritage Society. Council and customer service manager Stephen Mahon said there was a lack of historical evidence supporting the proposal, lack of support from Woodend RSL and lack of demonstrated need for the proposal. He also said it was considered inappropriate to link a significant war memorial with an individual. However, the O’Sullivans say they are determined to “save the original clock works” and install the sound system. Serena Seyfort