By Rowan Forster
Cardinia Shire has goaded the State Government amid uproar over Pakenham’s dreaded level crossings.
Acting CEO Mike Ellis revealed the council has been aggressively fighting for upgrades to the Racecourse Road, Cardinia Road and McGregor Road crossings in recent months.
Officers reportedly commissioned a report from specialist group Raylink Consulting to use as a lobbying document for both houses of parliament, but the plea has fallen on deaf ears.
“When McGregor Road was constructed, the arrangement was that council would construct from the Princes Highway all the way through to the bypass with the State Government picking up the crossing,” Mr Ellis said.
“We honoured our commitment – it was about $12-13 million – and yet we’re still getting no satisfaction from the State Government in that regard.”
Mr Ellis said Cardinia Shire was flying drones above the three thoroughfares during peak times, to capture footage of the congestion and forward it to politicians.
“We’ve been doing that in a forceful and frequent manner, especially in the run up to the state elections,” he said.
Discussion surrounding the suburb’s level crossings encapsulated the gallery at Cardinia Shire’s ordinary council meeting on 18 June.
According to a Draft Pakenham Structure Plan, produced by the council in October 2014, both Racecourse Road and McGregor Road would have road over rail infrastructure in the years to come.
For Graham Clark, who has lived on Ahern Road for more than two decades, it was an infuriating debate.“With the amount of people constantly moving into this shire, the amount of infrastructure provided to those people hasn’t kept up,” he told councillors.
“Coming back from Melbourne is an absolute nightmare because of the three crossings.
“It’s the hot potato in a game of political football – they all say when they get into power they’ll fix the problem.”
The Andrews Government has refused to deviate from a list of 50 level crossings it promised to remove four years ago, none of which encompass Cardinia.
It comes after the Gazette reported of boom gate shutdowns at the notorious three intersections, attributed to trespassers on the rail line.
Councillor Brett Owen implored the State Government to act.
“These are state assets and they need to step up to the plate,” he said.
“This council is advocating very strongly to get that infrastructure which we desperately need.
“Residents need to make this an issue in the lead up to the next state election.”
