Mr MORRIS (Mornington)— I raise an adjournment matter this evening for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety.
In raising this matter I am asking the minister to take such action as is necessary to advance the construction of traffic signals at the intersection of Nepean Highway and Wilsons Road in Mornington.
This is a step which will not only improve traffic at the intersection but also significantly improve public transport and bus services in Mornington.
In 2009 Connell Wagner undertook the Frankston-Mornington Peninsula bus service review. That report made a number of recommendations both to extend and improve bus services themselves and also for the implementation of some infrastructure improvements.
In terms of the Mornington electorate, there were two major infrastructure projects proposed. The first was the construction of a bus interchange at Barkly Street in Mornington. That work was undertaken by the Napthine Government, and has greatly improved conditions for passengers using the services from central Mornington.
The intersection works at Wilsons Road have always been considered a similar priority, but were expected to be a subsequent step from the construction of the transport interchange. I would suggest that seeing as we are now almost eight years on from the presentation of that report, the time for the project thas come.
Recently I asked the minister to undertake traffic counts in Main Street, Mornington. It is a narrow road and it is now quite congested.
The plan has always been to use Tanti Avenue and Wilsons Road, which run parallel to Main Street in Mornington, as alternative routes. That has been partly implemented in terms of the bus service, but it cannot be fully implemented until these intersection works are undertaken.
We have a population which is growing significantly—not at the same speed as Casey, Cardinia or Wyndham, but relatively quickly. But unlike the growth areas, the Peninsula is not a greenfield site; it is very much a matter of retrofitting existing infrastructure.
The improvements to bus services that will flow from the installation of traffic signals at this intersection are very much that—retrofitting the infrastructure to make it work more efficiently and to serve the public better.
I ask the minister to take my request seriously. Perhaps he may be able to squeeze some funding out of the Minister for Public Transport.
Who knows?
But certainly it is desirable to have the construction of those signals advanced as quickly as possible.