By Corey Everitt
Councillor for the Beacon Hills Ward Brett Owen has moved a motion in the council calling for the Minister for Roads to address the dangerous intersection of Mount Shamrock Road and Pakenham Road.
The Cardinia Shire Council held it’s general meeting on Monday 17 July where they unanimously supported Cr Owen’s motion.
Cr Owen moved this both as a local representative and as a member of the environmental review committee for the Mount Shamrock Quarry which is run by building material manufacturer Holcim.
The motion has the council call on Melissa Horne, the State Minister for Roads and Road Safety to assess the concerns of the both the high speed limit on Pakenham Road, which goes between 80-100kph, the visibility of the intersection and the high level of truck movement through the area.
“It is quite dangerous in my opinion,“ Cr Owen said when speaking for the motion.
“The committee did write to the department of transport last year asking for a properly assessed safety inspection because it’s the view of the committee that the risk profile of this intersection has increased since the last review taking by VicRoads approximately ten years ago.
“The visibility and speed limit should be reviewed and definitely visibility when you hit, from Mount Shamrock Road, Pakenham Road.
“We see 560 daily Holcim truck movements, come in and out of Mount Shamrock.
“That’s just Holcim, there are other truck movement that come to and from.“
As Cr Owen explains this question has been worked on by the environment committee for years.
“I’m just asking, I’m supporting this committee,“ he said.
“Unfortunately, they have had no luck with a response from the department of transport, this has been going on for several years and the most recent correspondence attempt was November last year.“
The motion was seconded by Councillor Graeme Moore and was passed by the council unanimously.