Rutherglen residents are pleading with Regional Roads Victoria and the Victorian State Government to get on with the job of getting heavy vehicles out of their main street and to trash plans for alternative routes through other parts of Rutherglen’s main residential areas.
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Rutherglen resident Kerryn O’Rourke with three of many key documents regarding a Heavy Vehicle Alternate Route concerning Rutherglen: A statewide draft plan of heavy vehicle routes or Victorian Freight Network, a Press Release from the Victorian State Government for heavy vehicles to be off local roads and a typical large, heavy vehicle in Main Street Rutherglen, so close to the footpath.
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Any thought of having a heavy vehicle alternative route to the existing use of Main Street Rutherglen within the township is not feasible according to local resident Kerryn O’Rourke.
“Talk of a route for trucks and other heavy vehicles along Douglas-Reid-Scott Streets – just a block away from our town’s main street - or anywhere else in town is ridiculous,” she told The Free Press last week.
A resident of Reid Street for some seven years and a local resident for about 20 years, Ms O’Rourke wants everyone, including Victorian State Government politicians, to revisit a Press Release from the state government of October 31, 2017.
In the statement which advised of the Australian and Victorian Governments committing $4 million to fund a Rutherglen Heavy Vehicle Alternate Route, the Press Release states: “The Australian and Victorian Governments are investing $4 million in a project to take trucks and heavy vehicles off local roads in central Rutherglen in Victoria’s north east.”
The Press Release mentions that redirecting heavy vehicles would improve safety after 13 crashes between January 2012 and December 2016.
“It’s folly to even consider any internal route within Rutherglen,” the almost 67-year-old handicapped, former secondary school and TAFE teacher said.
“In Reid Street there are a lot of people with disabilities. There are ladies with disabilities who cross the road to get to IGA and move slowly crossing the road. And further along, where Reid Street becomes Scott Street - to pass along the football ground with so many kids is just totally inappropriate.
“It’s not an alternative, it’s not a stop gap. It’s a lazy thought. It’s not an alternative heavy vehicle route. It’s not a bypass. It’s not temporary either.”
The right route which clearly avoids Rutherglen’s urban streets should be chosen at the outset according to Ms O’Rourke.
“I love living in Reid Street, I love living in Rutherglen,” she said.
“I wouldn’t love living here if our street were chosen as the heavy vehicle route.
“We’re a community. We don’t want a
divided town with a so-called alternate route or bypass within our town.
“I appreciate that Regional Roads Victoria is looking for a fairly straight road to get to Logic. But from a safety point of view, and for residents to continue loving Rutherglen, the route must not go through town.”
Ms O’Rourke has sought to meet with Member for Northern Victorian Jaclyn Symes, whose name was included on the Press Release of October 31, 2017.
