By Parker Mckenzie
Killara Road intersection upgrade fundraising in Coldstream will be reviewed according to documents published in the 2023/24 federal budget, and Casey MP Aaron Violi is calling on the project to be delivered without delay.
A large swathe of projects included in the $120 billion infrastructure investment program will undergo a 90-day independent review, including Killara Road and the Canterbury Road Upgrade, to ensure “projects can be delivered with more confidence about timeframes and budgets”.
Mr Violi said with the Killara Road and Canterbury Road projects “now on the chopping block,” it showed the Labor government “does not care about the outer east.
“They’re continuing to rip money out of our community so they can put it into bankrolling the suburban rail loop, which we know is going to cost over $100 billion to complete the project, and they’re looking for money anywhere they can find it,” he said.
“I would be very surprised if the funding for Killara Road or for Canterbury Road was still there.
“I’m very hopeful.
“The projects are needed, they stack up, but the Victorian government have had this money for four years and refused to start works on it.”
The former Liberal-Nationals Coalition government committed $20 million to Killara Road in 2019, with plans to upgrade the intersection with Maroondah Highway.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King launched the review of more than 700 projects to “consider the projects that are actual priorities and assess their cost and deliverability in the current climate”.
Mr Violi said if funding was cut, it isn’t just residents in Coldstream or Montrose who are impacted.
“It’s Healesville, Yarra Glen, The Upper Yarra all the way through to Silvan and Monbulk,” he said.
“A lot of people use these roads to get to and from work and to everyday activities.”
The Victorian Government has received the funding for the project but has yet to begin the upgrade.
Star Mail spoke to Coldstream residents in April last year who gathered to push for works to begin on the upgrade. Coldstream CFA are particularly affected, finding it difficult and dangerous trying to turn at the intersection in an emergency situation.
Coldstream CFA captain Sean Bethall said at the time that the lack of infrastructure to support emergency services needing to respond to jobs can mean dangerous close calls for crews exiting Killara Road.
“Even when we’ve got red and blue lights going we have difficulties where we’ve got to be quite abrupt in trying to get out because otherwise the traffic thinks we’re giving way to them and they just keep going. So it is very hard as an emergency service to get out,” he said.
Mr Bethall said the land has been available for duplication since the 1980s but nothing had happened to go about widening the road.
“Over the last 10 years it’s probably been more evident that the traffic’s getting heavier and harder to get out,” he said.
