By Jessica Anstice
Too much development and too little spending on infrastructure seems to be the main issue revolving around congestion on Clyde Road and surrounding roads.
Hampton Park resident Angelo Groza and Narre Warren resident Zachary de Silva are sick and tired of the bottleneck along Clyde Road.
Both are students at Federation University Berwick Campus and often find themselves caught up in traffic on their way to, and from university.
“It just takes forever to move the smallest distance. They need to find a way to de-clog the road; it’s absolutely atrocious,” Mr Groza said.
“It can be dangerous and unfair if someone is injured at either 9am or 3pm as it takes forever to get to the hospital if they need to travel along Clyde Road, it could be critical.”
Mr de Silva said, “Obviously the level crossing needs to be removed to start with and not just for traffic management control, it’s also a safety issue.
“A lot of people get hit and there are a lot of hear misses at level crossings. They need to send the traffic either over or under; that’s a logical solution.
“The traffic also causes severe road rage. It’s a big issue, a lot of people get frustrated and sometimes parents may take it out on their children.”
Mr de Silva said the traffic congestion can impact general wellbeing.
“Productivity is important these days and people are wasting a lot of time stuck in traffic. It cuts out a heap of time,” he said.
Clyde North resident John Ramsey drives along Clyde Road to get to and from work most days.
“We now have all these politicians saying they’re going to fix the road but it should have been duplicated years ago before all of the housing development began,” he said.
“I ride my bike as well and there’s no way I can ride it along Clyde Road, it’s dangerous and everyone is in such a hurry.
“It seems like every second day there’s an accident.”
Mr Ramsey shared his concerns about the O’Shea Road, Greaves Road and Clyde Road intersection, in front of Eden Rise Village.
“The left turning lane from Clyde Road onto Greaves Road needs to be longer,” he said.
“You will get stuck behind traffic that is turning left and miss the green light if you travel in the turning lane when driving straight along Clyde Road towards Berwick.
“The lights also take forever. There are nearly two sets of lights every 100 metres of each other.”
The bus stops along Clyde Road should also be factored in when determining the cause of the congestion, according to Mr Ramsey.
“The bus stops are on the road which delays the traffic,” he said.
“They’re fixing the road in stages but they should have done it all in one go. It’s all about the politicians now.”
