By Rowan Forster
The extension of Thompsons Road to adjoin Healesville-Kooweerup Road has been labelled an “urgent priority” by Federal MP Jason Wood, City of Casey and Cardinia Shire.
Mr Wood and City of Casey mayor Geoff Ablett recently canvassed the site, acknowledging the need for the “crucial” duplication to link Pakenham, Cranbourne and Carrum.
At a price tag of $470 million, the ambitious project would likely require contribution from both tiers of government.
It is estimated the new Thompsons Road corridor would provide over 100,000 local jobs within the region.
The Member for Latrobe said he had recently raised the need for infrastructure to accommodate Casey-Cardinia’s rapid growth with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
“I’m working on a big federal funding roads package for our area,” he told the Gazette.
“Thompsons Road is an obvious one which has to be extended, there’s no two ways about it.
“It is a no-brainer and it will serve as an east-west connection point between Pakenham and Dandenong – taking pressure off the Monash.”
He said a number of initiatives – including the O’Shea Road interchange – had been left in the lurch by the State Government’s sluggish Monash Freeway upgrade.
“We provided $500 million for the Monash and the money went in, but it just wasn’t spent – which was pretty frustrating and stalled a lot of projects.”
The second stage of the Monash Freeway upgrade has since been signed off by Labor, meaning the O’Shea Road interchange will be undertaken in 2019.
Once the work is complete, the Berwick thoroughfare will connect Eden Rise to the Monash Freeway, alleviating congestion on Soliders Road and Kangan Drive.
Both councils have unanimously hurled their support behind a Thompsons Road duplication and the construction of the O’Shea Road interchange.
“The extension from Berwick-Cranbourne Road to Cardinia Road is the final piece of the puzzle, and council is calling for further funding to ensure Thompsons Road can be completed in its entirety,” Casey councillor Sam Aziz said.
“A fully constructed Thompsons Road, from Lyndhurst to Officer South, would provide a new high capacity east-west freight and logistics corridor, and facilitate the development of employment land in Casey and Cardinia to support the creation of 100,000 jobs in the region.”
Cardinia Shire councillors and staff have long touted the benefits of the upgrade.
Miranda Carr, who commutes from Kooweerup to Dandenong for work, believes the Thompsons Road duplication would relieve the Monash Freeway’s early morning bottleneck.
“The population is growing so quickly and there’s so many people driving to the city of a morning,” she said.
“It’s becoming a complete nightmare.
“The sooner this gets done, the less pressure there will be on the Monash.”
