Barriers and illuminated signs have popped up along Berwick-Cranbourne Road, as construction preparation around the Thompsons Road roundabout in Clyde North begins.
This development comes as the construction contract was recently awarded to the family-owned and operated Whelans Group Investments.
For the City of Casey’s mayor, Stefan Koomen, he and the other councillors are keen to see it all unfold.
“Casey has strongly advocated for the upgrade of the Thompsons Road and Berwick Cranbourne Road intersection for many years,” he said.
“As councillors, we regularly receive feedback from residents about improving this intersection and we are thrilled that works will commence in the coming months.
“Once completed, it will go some way towards easing traffic congestion and improving safety in the area.”
Throughout the mid-weeks of June, residents close to the roundabout have observed portables and construction vehicles moving in and out of the open space along Thompsons Road.
More recently, bollards, signs, and new speed limits have been erected, as nearby local businesses remain eager, yet disappointed with the timeframe.
Sandy Bhullar, creative designer of Art Design Gallery, who also spoke to Star News earlier in the year when the $41.75 million announcement for the construction, said that it was great to see it all happening.
“If it’s going to take traffic out of the problem, we really don’t mind that; we’re definitely looking forward to it,” Sandy said.
The projected timeframe for completion of the new intersection was coined for mid-2027, with construction to begin later this year.
Once learning of this, Sandy was shocked, adding that “this is exactly what I was worried about”.
“I was thinking this would be finished by Christmas or something like that, because this area is going to be busy for business.
“I’m a bit shocked by that number, 2027, that’s what, two-something years away.
“I just don’t think a developed country such as Australia should take that long to get something like this done,” she said.
With her shopfront facing Berwick-Cranbourne Road, Sandy has a good view of the vehicles that come and go through the roundabout, and with her schedule, she sees the amount of traffic that accumulates during peak hours.
In the same stretch of businesses, Craig, owner of Absolute Fitness and Performance, said that he wished the intersection had “been done before this [area] was fully developed.”
While Craig is not directly affected by the traffic daily due to his early mornings, he couldn’t help but compare construction timelines in Victoria to other nations, such as Japan, citing the sinkhole that opened in a road in Fukuoka in 2016, where crews were able to fill it, repave and reopen it just after six days.
“I mean here, it would take six months, and I do understand that we have safety issues and we need to follow those rules and regulations, and we do it a whole lot better than other countries,” he said.
“But then again, you look at the Big Build, the West Gate Tunnel project, something that’s been blown out time and time again.
“Why is the taxpayer paying for that? I think there should be allowance for a little bit of leeway, but not twice the amount.”
Victoria’s road infrastructure projects are often characterised by extended timelines, largely due to strict Occupational Health and Safety standards, multi-agency planning requirements, and staged construction processes.
These are all designed to minimise disruption to road users, and while they do ensure long-term durability and worker safety, they also result in longer wait times.
This story is developing, and more information will be added once available.
