By Callum Ludwig
A road safety concern that has lingered for over half a decade remains unaddressed and is causing angst for some local residents.
Residential roads Ruthven Street, Wellman Street and Grieve Street all link up to the Launching Place Primary School from both the Warburton Highway and Gembrook-Launching Place Road, with the road conditions, driver behaviour and the safety of pedestrians, particularly schoolchildren, all part of the concerns.
Launching Place resident Kalli Blunt has been part of the push for action since before 2019 and said she’s extremely disappointed that nothing has happened.
“I’ve spoken to Jim (Yarra Ranges Council’s O’Shannassy Ward Councillor Jim Child) and he knows exactly who I am, he knows I’ve been fighting for this for a long time and he knows everything I’ve tried to do just to improve safety and it’s not happened,” she said.
“I asked for signage, I was going through the liaisons at the council and somehow they had people not working and something happened, they had other people come in and they put extra signs around Carter Street which was never even mentioned in any of my emails.”
In the Tuesday 25 June 2019 edition of the Upper Yarra Star Mail, Launching Place residents were featured on the front page hopeful that their roads would be featured in the now-defunded Roads For Community program, which they initially were.
Ms Blunt said there are no signs at all on their roads coming from Gembrook-Launching Place Road, no safety concern signs, no dust signs and no children in the area signs.
“They (Yarra Ranges Council) have to redo the gutter every couple of years because they just can’t do a proper job of it because it’s on a hill and a dirt road, and people just fly down here as a thoroughfare with no consideration or idea that there are children here,” she said.
“There’s a lot of kids that walk up and down this road or are on their bikes and it’s a blind corner that they just haven’t done anything about, they keep promising to do something and they were going to do signs to start the year but I had to email again and was told it would be eight weeks and now another two weeks again has passed.”
The collection of streets Ms Blunt is concerned about, as well as Jacka Street and Carrol Street in the same area, were initially slated to be sealed through the Roads for Community program but were among the many projects cancelled after Federal Government funding was withdrawn.
The Roads for Community program was intended to seal roads that border on schools and preschools as well as connect to key community facilities, to complete sealed road networks in urban areas and to service areas with a high property density.
Ms Blunt said the difference some safety measures would make would be enormously overwhelming as it would mark the end of something that has been so desperately needed and so overlooked.
“We can’t do speed bumps apparently because of the grader which comes through once or twice a year which isn’t enough because people fishtail down the road and fly up it and they can’t seal the road anymore,” she said.
“What I really want them to do is just put some signs up and in the proper positions, not just one sign of a child holding another child’s hand up at the school, there needs to be signs down near Gembrook-Launching Place Road leading up saying there’s bends in the road and dust and it needs to be done properly.”
Yarra Ranges Council confirmed it is currently undergoing a review of its Special Charge Scheme process which is expected to conclude around mid-year.
Director of Built Environment and Infrastructure Phil Murton said following the review they will be able to provide an update to the resident on what the process will be for all future road sealing projects.
“Unfortunately there have been some delays with the signage installation as the manufacturers are experiencing their own delays, however, we anticipate that they will be ready to be installed within the next two weeks,” he said.
“The safety of our community is always our highest priority and we’ll continue to work with the resident on the roads and drains in question,”
“Roads such as these in Launching Place are graded three times each year.”
