Bandaid fix not enough

LEONGATHA South residents have labelled improvements to the intersection of Leongatha South-Outtrim and Roughead roads with Bass Highway “a bandaid fix”.
There have been two casualty crashes at the intersection – one fatality and three people seriously injured – in the past five years.
These incidents spurred VicRoads into action, creating a new turning lane onto Outtrim Road from the Inverloch side.
“This year we installed a new left turning lane and additional signage at the intersection of the Bass Highway and Leongatha South-Outtrim Road to improve safety for drivers,” VicRoads acting regional director Rebecca Skelton said.
“We strongly encourage all drivers to pay close attention to all road signage and to drive to the conditions of our roads.”
However, resident Gordon Vagg believes this improvement is only a quarter of what is needed.
While not claiming to have all the answers, Mr Vagg and fellow residents Fred Morrison and Sue Landry suggested the road be levelled to enhance visibility leading up to the intersection and more signs added.
Additional signage was installed to alert drivers to slow down, but residents feel this signage could be more prominent.
They acknowledged there would not be enough room for a full roundabout.
“This was a quick fix after the fatality,” Mr Vagg said.
“Since the road from Korumburra was sealed, there has been an increase of traffic at this intersection, especially trucks. What has been done is better than nothing, though.”
All three residents say they take alternate routes where possible to avoid passing through the intersection between Leongatha and Inverloch.
“Locals know not to use it. Plenty have nearly been cleaned up,” Mr Vagg said.
To them, the real danger occurs when people speed over the crest, unaware there might be someone waiting to turn at the intersection ahead.
School buses and milk tankers also frequent the area.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s dusk, fog or rain, people come through here at 100km/h. Even on quiet days, we still see a lot of near misses,” Ms Landry said.
Ms Landry said she’d also like to see the telephone exchange moved, as it affects the visibility of motorists exiting Roughead Road.
Gippsland South MLA Danny O’Brien said The Nationals did not have a specific policy about intersections but would have more to say about roads before November’s state election.
“We’d like to see more safety work done on dangerous intersections. Indeed money from the TAC could assist this and in many cases would be a better usage of taxpayers’ dollars than some of the spending on wire rope barriers,” he said.
“I raised concerns about the Outtrim Road intersection with the government a year ago, so I’m pleased to have seen a left hand turning lane installed coming from Inverloch. I did also ask for a right turn lane coming from Leongatha and I’ll continue to lobby for improvements such as that.”
VicRoads is currently undertaking a $500,000 planning study on the Bass Highway between Anderson and Leongatha to identify future road improvement opportunities.
Any future improvements at this intersection will be considered as part of this study.
More information about the Bass Highway Planning Study can be viewed on the Engage VicRoads website: https://engage.vicroads.vic.gov.au/basshighway.

Too dangerous: Leongatha South residents Fred Morrison, Sue Landry and Gordon Vagg want to see more works done to improve safety for motorists at the intersection of Leongatha South-Outtrim and Rougheads roads with Bass Highway.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Jul 31 2018. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry