The Drysdale Bypass Western Intersection

DCSCA has been a major campaigner for the Drysdale Bypass, but we are concerned that the current proposal by Vic Roads is fundamentally flawed. The proposal - "Option 3a" - involves blocking off Jetty Road and building two signalized intersections and one roundabout.

We believe that this will create a congested, unsafe, inefficient and unattractive bottleneck where none existed previously. Virtually all of the traffic entering or exiting Drysdale & Clifton Springs will have to pass through the section of High Street between Reserve Road and the bypass and the two associated signalized intersections. Therefore, when a crash occurs, it will virtually paralyse the traffic flow into and out of Drysdale and Clifton Springs and compromise the operation of emergency services vehicles. Further, the bottleneck includes an excessively high number of vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian conflicts points that could result in serious injury. It will create an unbalanced and inefficient traffic flow and increased travel times. Finally, the bottleneck will encroach into and spoil the ambience of Lake Lorne Reserve and adjacent properties.

VicRoads Consolidated Options Report shows that option 11 (twin 2-lane roundabouts) which maintains the current separation between Jetty Road and High Street traffic, not only provides significantly more efficient traffic flow for Drysdale Clifton Springs residents (delays are reduced from in excess of 60 seconds to less than 10 seconds) but provides reduced delays for all routes compared to option 3a.

DCSCA has requested the Victorian Ombudsman’s assistance in this matter.