By Shelby Brooks and Danielle Kutchel
A speed-limit reduction is in the works on the trouble-plagued Healesville-Kooweerup Road – but residents will be waiting a few more years before a full fix is completed.
VicRoads announced the speed limit along the Healesville-Kooweerup Road would be reduced 10km/h from Monday 17 May.
Currently 90km/h, the stretch of road between Rossiter Road in Kooweerup to Greenhills Road in Pakenham will have new signage erected overnight on Sunday 16 May, reducing the limit to 80km/h.
“Following a number of recent incidents, the new 80km/h speed limit is being implemented to improve safety for all drivers while planning for more permanent safety measures along Healesville-Kooweerup Road is underway,” a statement released by VicRoads read.
“The new 80km/h speed limit will increase journey times by approximately one minute.
“As a community, we should never value shaving a couple of minutes off our journey over potentially losing a life or causing a life-changing injury.”
Healesville-Kooweerup Road has become notorious for accidents, with the tragic death of a Kooweerup mother and her unborn baby in February prompting petitions to bring forward plans to duplicate the road, currently scheduled to be completed by 2025.
In July 2020 it was announced that the tender process for the Northern and South Eastern Public-Private Partnership packages of road upgrades, which Healesville-Kooweerup Road upgrade fell under, would be terminated and instead individually awarded to pre-qualified companies.
Bass MP Jordan Crugnale said a construction partner was expected to be appointed by the end of 2021 for the duplication of the Healesville-Kooweerup Road.
“We expect to start constructing the Healesville-Kooweerup Road Upgrade in the first half of 2022,” Ms Crugnale said.
“Instead of being delivered as a Public Private Partnership [PPP], with a group of other projects in the south-east, the Healesville-Kooweerup Road Upgrade will be completed by dedicated contractor selected from a pre-approved panel.
“It is important to note that the change in delivery model has not impacted the original delivery timeframe, as both stages of the project will still be completed by 2025.”
She said the change was made because the current alliance model would be better for local jobs and procurement than a PPP model.
Gembrook MP Brad Battin argued the State Government should have upgraded the road last year during Covid-19.
He said if the Liberals were in government, the PPP would have gone through and the road would be either finished or under construction.
“If it was under construction we wouldn’t have had accidents because the speed limit would be 40km/h and barriers would be around it,” Mr Battin said.
He criticised the government’s decision to pull out of the PPP.
“There’s no longer an ongoing lease so effectively [the state government] is saying they’ll pay up front, because they’ve borrowed the money rather than go through a private consortium.
“If I was the families I’d be angry at the fact that the government said they were going to fix the road and due to a political decision they’ve changed their minds, allocated money elsewhere and now are coming back after people have lost their lives, it’s not good enough”
Mr Battin said it was disappointing that the road would not be fixed before the next state election in November 2022.
“It won’t be completed before the election now and that’s where it is frustrating,” he said.
“The community was promised, ’we’re going to fix one of the most dangerous roads in our area’, and now we’re having to put up with that for another couple of years.“
He said he would continue fighting for residents who are concerned about the road, and said the State Liberals have asked the State Government for information on the reason for the change from the original PPP.
Yet another smash occurred on Monday 10 May after a man in his 70s was trapped in his car after it collided with a ute just before 6.30am.
Pakenham SES media officer Shayne Honey said the elderly driver had been trapped in the vehicle for about 45 minutes near Greenhills Road before he was freed at 7.15am.
A spokesperson from Ambulance Victoria confirmed that the man in his 70s had been taken to The Alfred in a stable condition, with what appeared to be upper body injuries.
The elderly patient was the only one hospitalised in the incident, and the other driver’s condition remains unknown at this stage.
Approximately 15,000 vehicles travel on the road every day.
Within the five-year period leading up to 11 February 2021, there were 36 crashes along this section of road; tragically two of these crashes resulted in fatalities and 14 have resulted in serious injuries.
