By Corey Everitt
The Healesville-Kooweerup Road upgrade is only mere weeks away from completion, a triumphant moment for community campaigners who rallied to address what was once Cardinia’s ‘death road’.
Longtime community man of Kooweerup, Gary King says the upgrade is the completion of ’King’s vision’ and beyond what envisaged.
“The project far exceeds the expectations of what was envisaged back in 2016/17 when I started the campaign to duplicate the road. Never did we give serious consideration to a dedicated cycle lane along the total scope of construction,“ King said.
“We really didn’t give any consideration to the services that crossed the site, like the Desalination Pipeline, various power mainlines that service Melbourne, The main Kooweerup water main from Hall Rd to Kooweerup.
“This is now the major link between the Melbourne Monash Freeway and the South Gippsland Highway, it will help Victoria’s biggest tourist attractions like the penguins at Phillip Island and Wilsons Promontory.”
To be officially operation last this month, it will the duplication from the Princes Freeway to Manks Road. The project was a significant effort to navigate the many factors of the transforming each roundabout, major works on the bridge over Deep Creek to ensuring the security of the Kooweerup Flood Protection drainage system.
The completion is over a year ahead of schedule, originally set for late 2025.
Bass MP Jordan Crugnale said the project has seen an extensive community effort that linked programs with groups from the local Men’s Sheds to the Scouts.
“The duplication is more than a road – it’s about community and local partnerships and we have seen this during the entire planning and construction phases,” Crugnale said.
“It is a massive project, there was a lot of planning that went into it given it is on a swamp, including site investigations, geotechnical and environmental studies and early works saw utilities needing to be moved before construction could start.
“I want to sincerely thank the community members that advocated so fiercely and passionately for many years and also thank everyone for their patience during the construction.”
King, alongside many from the community, campaigned to upgrade the road many years ago – as the then thin, windy stretch of asphalt was notorious for dangerous collisions, a high portion of which took lives.
“Unfortunately, we had to wait for multiple deaths to happen, but the State Government listened,” King said.
“The funding should have come a long time ago, really when the Pakenham Bypass was done, but nonetheless it’s done now.”
Formerly, it was a narrow single carriageway with a 90 kph speed limit, at points it was only 10 centimetres wider than the State’s minimal standard.
The road’s three-kilometre bend was notorious for its danger where overtaking was permitted at certain points.
In 2018 there was a daily traffic average of 21000 vehicles – 4200 of which were trucks.
Between 2010 and 2016 there 27 casualty crashes with numerous fatalities.
The worries for the road came to a head when two fatal collisions occurred in just the first half of 2016.
A 22-year-old Mt Evelyn woman Neisha McLean died in January, then 27-year-old Ryan Downs was killed in a collision in May.
The deaths sparked calls for immediate action on the road, Ryan Downs’ family would join the appeals around the ‘death road’.
“The people of Kooweerup knew of the importance of this project and always supported the campaign,” King said.
“One meeting had so many people we had to get the police to come by to get a bit more control, people were watching outside.”
With the situation urgent, the State Government found it hard to provide an immediate answer.
“It was always going to happen, but it was just in the too-hard basket,” King described it.
Yet, the community refused to let it go. They campaigned fiercely to see change.
Though King had provided a list of demands outlining short-term measures, the goal of the campaign never drifted from seeing a full upgrade – in particular widening the road into a dual carriageway.
The family of Ryan Downs began a petition calling for an urgent fix of the road which garnered significant attention.
“It was a good campaign, VicRoads really supported us,” King said.
“We didn’t get political, we never favoured one side, we always engaged with all politicians.”
The opposition at the time led by Matthew Guy backed a proposed upgrade, putting the pressure on further for the State Government.
Unfortunately, the community had to wait a bit longer. It was in April 2018 that the State Government announced the money was secured for the vital upgrade to the road.
At the time, King was quoted as saying it was a ‘win for people power’.
Now more than five years later with the project close to completion, King can see for himself the results of him and his town’s efforts.
He gave gave thanks for the Governments, the workers and the patient commuters.
“It will save lives, it will save time and boost tourism in Victoria,” he said.
“Special mention should go out to both the State and Federal Governments who support the funding of the project.
“The Project Management team and the hundreds of contractors and their workers who melded together to have the total project completed 18 months ahead of schedule.
“And the local road users and property owners who although inconvenienced during construction, understood that the short-term pain was worth the long-term gain.“
The Healesville-Kooweerup Road Upgrade is set to be operationally complete later this month.
