By Brendan Rees
‘Non-destructive’ digging has begun on a major road project in Berwick, angering residents of an adjoining estate, who say they were not “consulted” about a six lane proposal.
Major Roads Projects Victoria (MRPV) plans to widen O’Shea Road in each direction – making it six lanes in total as part of the Monash Freeway Upgrade, which is due to be completed in 2022.
Works began early this week to locate underground services, such as electricity, gas and water that run alongside Greaves Road and O’Shea Road, between Domain Drive and Soldiers Road – as part of early construction planning and design for O’Shea Road.
“These works will allow us to get on with the important job of upgrading O’Shea Road to three lanes in each direction and extending it to join the Beaconsfield interchange,” program director of MRPV, Ray Paterson, said.
“This will improve traffic flow and travel times and make it easier for local road users to connect directly with the Monash Freeway.”
However, residents of the adjoining Affinity Estate say MRPV had reneged on their proposal to widen the road to four lanes rather than six – which was “unforeseen” with “no submissions” sought from the community.
They have also submitted a 354-strong petition to Casey Council in early April, asking for “urgent action” for the project to be kept at the four-lane proposal and include noise barriers.
With Casey City being one of the major areas for new housing being developed on greenfield land, MRPV says the current road infrastructure would be unable to cope with the increased demand, which is why O’Shea Road is being upgraded and extended.
Between now and late May MRPV will complete non-destructive digging, which involves using a vacuum truck to excavate soil and debris to locate and identify underground services.
These works will take place in the road reserve on the north and south side of Greaves Road and O’Shea Road. MRPV maintains there will be no disruption to essential services during these works.
During the early stages of consultation and promotion of the project, the final design of O’Shea Road was still to be determined and MRPV says the word ‘duplication’ was used to relay that that a dual carriageway with centre median would be constructed, adding this was not intended to imply a certain number of lanes.
“In early 2019, MRPV identified the assumption within some members of the community that ‘duplication’ meant O’Shea Road would go from two lanes to four lanes, instead of the final design of six lanes,” MRPV said in a statement.
“Once identified, references to ‘duplication’ were removed from all communication materials to avoid any further confusion about the final design of six lanes. This has since been communicated this with the community via community updates, and pop up information sessions.”
An Affinity Estate resident, who asked not to be named, questioned why work had begun “when outstanding objections and petitions have been lodged and no satisfactory outcomes to these objections have so far been received.”
Chairman of the Affinity Owner’s Corporation, Michael Suttie said he was also disappointed to have received a flyer notifying him of the works.
“We like to believe we live in a democracy where we have rights, where our voices are heard and our concerns answered, it appears we don’t,” he said.
“The bottom line is we would not have bought here, if O’Shea Rd was to be freeway like, with six lanes right up to our homes with the associated noise and danger.
“When we bought our homes 10 years ago, O’Shea Rd was only every designated to be upgraded to four lanes, set out as a treed boulevard.”
