The petition requests the Victorian Minister for Roads, Melissa Horne, to ensure the balance of funds put aside for planning, as part of a $4 million 2016 election promise, are now used specifically for improving safety in the town centre.
Along with the installation of proper pedestrian crossings at the post office and the newsagent, plus the replacement of 1-dimensional speed humps at each end of the town, the petition calls for the release of a report called the ‘Rutherglen Origin and Destination Study.’
Produced at a cost of some $690,000 but never released, this study was to inform the plan the then Federal Minister for Transport, Darren Chester, called for when pledging $2 million from the coalition if they were returned to power and if matched dollar for dollar by the State.
Rutherglen resident and local councillor Roberta Horne said community members have minimal recourse to query the withdrawal of the $2m of Federal funding announced prior to Christmas but it appears the State still retains some funds.
“It’s hard to understand how, despite being a tourist town that welcomes visitors from all over the world, we are impacted by a border anomaly which results in only Victorian residents being eligible to participate in this petition,” she told The Free Press.
“Presumably the Rutherglen Origin and Destination Study we are anxious to see, includes such details as the number of other Australian road users who work and visit our town yet have no opportunity to voice their opinions or ask for change.
“There seems to be no allowance made for the volume or impact of bi-directional traffic using the roads between each of our states.”
A great deal of work has been done over the preceding years with numerous calls for a bypass dating back more than 50 years. Shire officers and community groups have worked tirelessly to find a solution.
After the release of the Aurecon Report back in 2010 the community was disappointed to hear they had to wait for another 30 years for a bypass because they couldn’t meet the criteria to agree on an existing road network from more than a dozen available options and because there had been no fatalities on the road.
They were heartened in 2017 with the joint announcement of $4 million funding for a study into an alternative route for heavy vehicles. They were further encouraged by the release of the ‘Delivering the Goods Report of 2018 which clearly states on page 11: +$100 million for a Rutherglen Heavy Vehicle Route. Disappointingly, this figure was amended to read $4 million.
Then, last November, the Federal Government withdrew its promised $2 million. Hence the
push by Ms Horne and many other local residents to have the remaining funds actioned immediately, by way of a petition.
The petition started weeks before a shocking truck accident on Friday, March 15 at about 5.00pm. The truck smashed into a car, a power pole and the veranda of The Other Place Café, a building owned by David Beard.
Fortunately, there were no other parked vehicles, and no-one was on the street or footpath at that time otherwise a serious injury or death may have happened. Damage occurred to the café and electricity went out for some 27 hours until 8.00pm the following evening.
There are many frustrated residents and business owners. Frustrated at the lack of attention given to making Rutherglen’s main street less dangerous.
The Free Press spoke to several people last Friday, a week after the truck accident and many decades of covering the subject of a town bypass and more recently, a heavy vehicle alternate route.
Rutherglen newsagent Di Taborsky suggested one lane only of parking in Main Street.
“Council needs to buy a couple of blocks of land and turn them into carparking blocks,” the newsagent for the past eight years, said. “And get rid of those jutting out things of concrete.
“Regarding trucks, I have to say it’s a bit unavoidable. It would cost something like $100 million for a bypass. You can’t avoid trucks.”
Ms Horne said it’s obvious the current route will remain. “It therefore makes it critical to more effectively manage the flow of traffic by retarding the speed, proving safe passage for all pedestrians and road users, and improving the detection of those disobeying the rules of the road,” she said.
Resident Julie Taylor said it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, regarding a bad accident or death. “It’s going to be dangerous whatever you do. There are trucks, 4-wheel drives and caravans. You just have to make it less dangerous.
“Rutherglen is a far cry from the days of horses and buggies. Rutherglen is bigger and growing.”
She has experienced a near disaster, sitting outside a shop further up in Main Street. While sitting with a grandchild it was a frightening time when contact with a vehicle could easily have been made. “I’ve never sat there again,” Ms Taylor said. “I’ve seen adults with kids on leashes.
“There must be a huge campaign. There are lots of other things people should do but I must say some locals need educating.”
Ms Taylor emphasised: “I’d rather be arrested for protesting in the street than going to a grandchild’s funeral.”
Corowa resident Heather Leadbetter who spends a lot of time over this side of the border expressed concern at the width of the street. “I love the ambience of Rutherglen, but the width of the street is not good for cars, let alone trucks,” she said.
It was local Herb Ellerbock and his wife Roz’s car that was substantially damaged by the truck on March 15.
He acknowledges the work of locals in voicing their opinions and setting up committees but wants more than that, especially by those in authority.
“What is missing, for a long time, is real leadership,” he said. “What I haven’t seen is a plan.”
Enormous concern and fear exist in Rutherglen and beyond, about the town’s main street safety. No-one is disputing the need for all types of vehicles – including of course cars, caravans, trucks and farm machinery – to travel on roads.
It’s a matter now, with seemingly less money from state and federal governments for a growing Rutherglen, to at least improve safety in what is a narrow Main Street.
The group spoken to by The Free Press would like to have the whole $4 million for the Main Street study which was promised.
But with $2 million still available from the Victorian State Government, the local group’s message is along the lines: “Please use the money we were promised for Main Street urgently, invest in best traffic calming devices and slow everything down before another accident occurs, with far worse consequences.”
