By Jed Lanyon
Residents of Yarra Glen and Yarra Ranges Council are hoping that the federal government’s pledge of $300 million to seal roads in the Dandenong Ranges and surrounding areas will mean that Forest Street will finally be sealed.
Forest Street runs along Yarra Glen Primary School and Yarra Glen Childcare Centre inviting high levels of traffic that can lift up dust, especially in the drier months.
Councillor Fiona McAllister said that the road gets busy during its peak hours.
“If you come here when there’s school drop off, even though children are dropped off on the other side as well, you might see 20 or 30 cars sitting there waiting to pick up and drop kids off.
“To have a town like Yarra Glen where most of the streets are sealed and then we’ve got this road which is right on a growing primary school and a busy childcare centre and it’s not sealed, it’s something that we’ve been pushing for in the community for decades,” she said.
Forest Street is unique to the area as most surrounding roads have been sealed, some being very recent.
“Ellis Road was actually sealed last year, so this is kind of the missing piece of the puzzle and there are other roads around the Yarra Ranges which are exactly the same,” said Cr McAllister.
“I think if the commitment is made, we get to spend the money in the best way for the community and Forest Street would definitely be one of our top five priorities.”
The federal funding will enable 500 kilometres of dirt roads in the Yarra Ranges and Cardinia Shire to be sealed over a 10-year period.
The funding announcement was the result of an advocacy partnership between the two councils and both shires will now receive $150 million to go towards sealing roads.
“It’d be brilliant, what we need is to make sure that both sides of government are committing for the money to come to us so that we can go ahead and get these types of roads fixed,” Cr McAllister said.
“The $150 million for us would make a huge difference we could actually get ahead of the game.”
Roads like Forest Street that are in urbanised areas will be built using a special charge scheme, whereby construction would be co-funded by landowners and the federal government, with this funding package providing a substantial subsidy.
Landowners will have the option to finance contributions over a 10-year period, or pay up front to receive a discount.
However this adds another challenge as much of Forest Street runs along the boundary of Yarra Glen Primary School.
