Ruby road issues drag on
THERE were tears, anger and downright dumbfoundedness.
The latter referred to action taken by South Gippsland Council that none in the community sought nor wanted.
Folk who live on the Ruby-Arawata Road are very worried about its safety and are feeling disenfranchised.
Nevertheless, about 20 of them came to a meeting in the Ruby Hall late on Thursday afternoon to find out what council is planning to do to help them.
Its infrastructure director Anthony Seabrook, was there to give the detail – and take the flak.
“We know what we want but nobody’s listening,” commented Bluey Aeschlimann before the meeting started.
He and others are furious that council closed Ruby Road and ripped up some of its bitumen.
But former mayor Nigel Hutchinson-Brooks who chaired Thursday’s meeting, said that was “a done deal” and subsequent issues needed to be dealt with.
There were those who saw that as an opportunity to vent their feelings about the closure of Ruby Road.
“We’re here to complain about the fact our bloody road’s been closed,” cried one.
“Who authorised the spending of $3000 on the gate?” demanded Margaret Robson, referring to the solid structure that now prevents traffic entering or leaving Ruby Road.
Mr Hutchinson-Brooks is a very experienced chairman and managed to draw the focus back to the matters at hand: safety concerns, narrowness of a bridge on the road and the state of an adjacent park.
Now that all the local traffic has to use Ruby-Arawata Road, speed has become more of an issue.
Milk trucks use the thoroughfare and logging trucks are expected soon. These will be carting wood from South Gippsland Water’s Western catchment.
Water authority operations manager Ravi Raveendran told The Star on Friday about 10 per cent of the 50 hectares of pine plantation at number four reservoir would be logged to create fire breaks.
A timber harvesting plan is being prepared and would be lodged with council for approval.
Mr Raveendran said he expected the logging would occur sometime between November and March.
At Thursday’s meeting, Mr Hutchinson-Brooks suggested the single lane bridge at Ruby near the South Gippsland Highway, acted as a traffic calming device, while others were worried that the increased traffic on Ruby-Arawata Road made the bridge more dangerous for pedestrians.
Resident and CFA captain Darren Hardacre, asked if council could look at adding some sort of separate pedestrian device to the bridge.
There was some discussion about the triangular park that sits between the highway, the former Ruby Road and Ruby-Arawata Road. It hosts a memorial tree and is used for community get togethers.
Resident Jim Pickersgill, said the changes to their lives with the closure of Ruby Road, “have affected us and we need rock solid guarantees that what is put in place is for the benefit of the community”.
Margaret Robson asked for the name of someone to whom the community could report unsafe traffic incidents at the intersection of Ruby-Arawata Road and the South Gippsland Highway.
“I have the name of someone in VicRoads,” responded Mr Hutchinson-Brooks, “I will circulate that.”
He directed discussion to the section of Ruby Road bitumen that’s been pulled up.
“Does the community want a grassed area or shrubbed up garden area?” asked Darren Hardacre.
Mr Pickersgill said the road safety issues took priority; the park area could be dealt with later.
Mr Seabrook told The Star council staff would look at ways of reducing speed along the Ruby-Arawata Road and would get back to the community, and the cost of accommodating pedestrians on the single lane bridge would be investigated.
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