Freeway to frustration

By Justin Robertson
IT’S the congestion and bottle necking on the Monash Freeway that has driven Beaconsfield resident Angelo D’Amelio to the point of no return.
The 39-year-old travels to work in Hawthorn by car every day. On a good run, he can expect to be at his desk within 50 minutes; on a bad day, he has missed meetings because it’s taken him two hours.
Mr D’Amelio is now taking matters into his own hands by securing as many signatures as he can for a petition that will draw attention to the need for two extra lanes both sides of the Monash. The petition is to be presented to Liberal MP Brad Battin, who will then take it to Parliament for action later this year.
After 13 years of using the Monash extension, Mr D’Amelio is sick to death of his own personal Groundhog Day, being stuck in traffic day after day.
“Going to work every morning by car you have patience with traffic, but now it’s come to a point where it’s ridiculous that we have to sit in traffic and waste time,” he said.
“It’s so frustrating, here we are as taxpayers paying astronomical taxes and tolls on our roads yet we have city traffic.”
Mr D’Amelio said even at the most recent election campaign, he felt community voices were not heard, especially when it came to topics like highway congestion or freeway expansions. The Beaconsfield Progress Association (BPA) had organised talks by each candidate and for him, it was a chance for the community to ask questions and have their say.
Mr D’Amelio attended these meetings, but said his questions fell on deaf ears.
“My main question was to all candidates – both state and federal. I wanted to know if there was a budget allocated toward the Monash for an extension and if there were any plans in the future for an upgrade, such as additional lanes,” he said.
“Their answer? No budget, no plans. I do understand it is a federal highway, but that’s enough to tell me they’re not interested.”
After approaching the Cardinia Council to voice his concerns, Cr Brett Owen sat down with Mr D’Amelio and both agreed a petition would be the best approach to take.
“What we’ll do is put up a petition, a list of names on the council notice boards walls so when people walk in they can see all the names in support of additional lanes on the Monash,” Cr Owen said at last week’s council meeting.
“It’s something we definitely support.”
Mr D’Amelio said he would be walking the streets, parking himself in shopping centres, sitting out the front of footy clubs and asking for support in having two additional lanes on the M1 from Pakenham to the city. Once the petition has enough signatures, it will then go through the Cardinia Council’s hands in the hope the congestion will be relieved.
Duncan Elliot, VicRoads regional director of Metro South West, said although Pakenham was yet to be on the receiving end of an M1 upgrade, 1.39 billion was poured into the widening of the Monash Freeway at Doveton through Heatherton Road last year.
Mr Elliot said it was a matter of slow progress.
“The Monash Freeway was progressively built and opened in stages,” he said.
Freeway sections extending beyond the original Princes Highway at Hallam include the Berwick Bypass (late 1980s), Hallam Bypass (opened 2003) and the Pakenham Bypass (opened 2007), Mr Elliot said.
“These freeway bypasses were jointly funded by the Federal Government and have generally been planned with space in the reservations for extra lanes in future,” he said.