By Mitchell Clarke
A “serious collision” at a notorious Princes Highway intersection has reignited debate about the proposed Bunyip North Quarry site, which will see 550 quarry trucks travelling on the dangerous stretch daily.
Emergency services were called to a collision at the Fogarty Road and Princes Highway intersection on Friday morning, 19 June, after a car towing a boat collided with a truck.
Miraculously nobody needed to be freed from the wreckage and paramedics didn’t transport anyone to hospital, however local residents are fearful that a fatality isn’t far away.
Save Mount Cannibal president Jane McLaughlin and secretary Anne Hodgson said they were constantly waiting to hear news of an accident on the road.
“We empathise with the drivers in this accident. We’re living with this constantly and we’re very aware of the dangers of the Princes Highway,” Ms Hodgson said.
“It’s a constant worry that one of our family and friends are going to become a statistic because it’s a very dangerous road.”
For 13 years, local residents have been fighting off multi-national company Hanson, who propose to to extract an estimated 70 to 100 million tonnes of granite over a period of about 80 to 120 years.
It’s understood 550 quarry truck and trailers will travel to and from the quarry site between 6am to 6pm, five days a week.
The Save Mount Cannibal group is now fearing that on top of the disruption to the area’s peace and tranquility, road safety could also be jeopardised.
“It’s impossible to imagine that you can have that many quarry trailers and trucks and not have carnage,” Ms McLaughlin said.
“This is a strong growth corridor for tourism and new residential development. I can’t believe that we aren’t going to see fatalities,” Ms Hodgson added.
The trucks and trailers will enter and exit the Tonimbuk-Bunyip turn off at the Princes Highway and travel along the Princes Highway and Monash Freeway.
“It is certainly unclear how they could possibly widen that road to facilitate any trucks. A quarry truck every 75 seconds at that intersection fills me with dread,” Ms McLaughlin said.
“We see it as a massive issue that will impact a far greater area and environment than simply just the local area,” Ms Hodgson added.
“On any count, it’s just an appalling provision to try and introduce this into prime agricultural land and next to a well-loved historic site like Mount Cannibal. Anybody who is familiar with it will know that you do the climb and you get to the top and you look out over that magnificent landscape.
“This brand new quarry is going to be a huge eyesore. We do have other quarries in the area but they tend to be lower and hidden but there is no hiding this one. You’d struggle to find a worse location.”
After fires ripped through the area in March 2019, residents continue to struggle to their feet, and have again been whacked with more uncertainty, after the contentious project was suspended amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“From personal experience, I can say it’s exhausting trying to build your life after something like this,” Ms McLaughlin explained.
“It’s just so hard to find the time, money and expertise to have a voice that can go up against a German conglomerate. It really is a David and Goliath battle.”
In a statement provided to the Gazette, Hanson said they had proposed a number of initiatives as part of the Environment Effects Statement (EES).
They included a commitment to undertake studies to assess the capacity, durability and safe use of roads and intersections which could be directly or indirectly affected.
“Hanson understands the concerns expressed by some residents around increased truck movements on the local roads,” a spokesperson said.
“Further, Hanson has made a commitment to limit the number of truck movements with specific route control, pending a future upgrade to an interchange at the intersection of Princes Highway, Tonimbuk Road and Hope Street.”
The proposed site of the granite quarry is on Sanders Road, Bunyip North. The project is in the preliminary stages where no approval has been granted and operations are yet to commence.
