MARCH 10, 2015 \ BRIMBANK.STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + THE WEST’S BEST PROPERTY GUIDE
Traffic hotspot ‘must go’ ‘‘
This is something of a necessity
’’
- Natalie Suleyman
Mr Finn is particularly keen to see the roundabout scrapped and replaced by traffic lights. “Because of the extraordinary growth in places such as Burnside Heights, Taylors Hill, Caroline Springs and Kings Park, we see queues banked back for kilometres to get through this particular roundabout,” Mr Finn said. “It is obvious to anyone . . . that it’s an unsatisfactory situation for the thousands of residents who have moved into that general vicinity.” A spokeswoman for Mr Donnellan said VicRoads was currently developing options to improve safety and traffic operations at the intersection, which would be presented to the government for final approval. “The roundabout has been the subject of ongoing community concern over a number of years,” she said. “Bernie Finn had four years to advocate on behalf of the local community and fix this roundabout but did nothing.”
TRACEY CAMMOCK, OF THE SUNSHINE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
Caped crusaders to the rescue Never fear, the Sunshine Short Film Festival is here! Superheroes will play a starring role in this year’s entries, with organisers calling on film buffs to creatively capture the hidden energy of Sunshine using superhero themes – in five minutes’ screen time. Entries will open on May 1 and close September 30, with the winners to be announced at a screening on October 30. The Sunshine Short Film Festival, touted as the only film festival in Melbourne’s west focusing on the west, is run by Sunshine Business Association and supported by Brimbank council. For more information, go to www.sunshinefilmfestival.com.au. Charlene Macaulay
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One of Brimbank’s busiest roundabouts is facing the chop. Labor MPs Natalie Suleyman, Natalie Hutchins and Marlene Kairouz have thrown their support behind scrapping the Taylors Road-Kings Road roundabout in Delahey, which links the suburbs of Delahey, Sydenham, Taylors Lakes, Deer Park, Kings Park, Taylors Hill and Caroline Springs. The roundabout was voted as Melbourne’s seventh-worst intersection in the RACV’s 2014 Redspot Survey, which cited road rage and near misses during morning and afternoon peaks “as drivers try to find gaps to enter this roundabout”. In September last year, Brimbank council called on the state government to fund removal of the roundabout. “Safety at the Kings Road-Taylors Road intersection is highly compromised due to high traffic volumes and is hazardous for pedestrians,” a council report states. Ms Suleyman met VicRoads and State Roads Minister Luke Donnellan last month to advocate removal of the roundabout and said a plan to fix the site was likely to be released in coming months. “This is something of a necessity,” she said. Ms Hutchins said the likely two options were a signalled roundabout or scrapping the roundabout altogether in favour of traffic lights. “I think VicRoads has actually done some groundwork on this,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting it released and moved along, which I’m happy to speak about to the minister for roads. “That intersection really does need
some attention, particularly in light of the growth that’s happening.” The comments come after Liberal MP Bernie Finn called on the state government to commission an investigation into the roundabout. But Ms Kairouz said she believed an investigation was unnecessary and said removing the roundabout and installing traffic lights would improve safety and reduce traffic congestion.
(Shawn Smits)
By Charlene Macaulay