MR MORRIS (Mornington) (09:48:23): Since Peninsula Link opened in early 2013 traffic volumes on many nearby local roads have increased significantly.
While the design allowed the horrendous bottleneck at Frankston to be avoided, and that was most welcome, there was considerable disruption to established traffic patterns.
In pre-link days traffic travelling towards Melbourne used either Moorooduc Road or Nepean Highway, and did not travel across the peninsula.
At the opening, reductions on the north-south arterials were significant, and forecast. However, planning for the impact on cross-peninsula roads was minimal and upgrades and improvements almost non-existent. In fact, as I believe I have told the house before, traffic volumes were anticipated to decline on some roads, but this was clearly nonsense.
Nowhere is this issue more apparent than in the two main access roads from the Mornington district to Peninsula Link.
Bungower Road is a local road, and full construction was only completed by the shire in 2006. As the main access point to the southernmost full cloverleaf on the link it now carries a level of traffic well beyond the intended volume. As a consequence, there are considerable delays at both the morning and afternoon peaks.
Mornington-Tyabb Road is an arterial road, and land has been set aside for duplication. Despite the volumes currently carried, the government has shown no appetite to carry out even minor modifications to improve traffic flow, let alone a duplication.
This is a problem that is not going to go away. Our population continues to grow.
I call on the government to take this issue seriously, get the necessary planning done and the money set aside so that upgrades can begin without delay.