By Jane Ross
LISTEN to the people.
That was the strong message driven home to South Gippsland councillors during a briefing session on the thorny Ruby Road issue.
Such are the feelings of the Ruby and district community, the Kardella CWA branch cut short its regular meeting so that members could attend in the council chamber.
Margaret Robson spoke for them: “Why, why won’t anybody listen to us? We’re the locals.”
At the heart of the matter is the council’s wish to close Ruby Road, a handy stretch that takes local traffic (including CFA trucks) into the South Gippsland Highway in a y-intersection format.
VicRoads, which is responsible for the highway, doesn’t like y-intersections.
Closing Ruby Road would mean a lot more traffic would use the Ruby/Arawata Road, a short distance along the highway towards Korumburra. That road has been upgraded near its junction with the South Gippsland Highway at considerable expense by VicRoads, but the upgrading only went so far.
In order for the rest of the narrow Ruby/Arawata Road to accommodate the extra traffic that the closure of the Ruby Road would generate, council would have to spend $250,000.
As Cr David Lewis explained to The Star, if Ruby Road stays open, that cost wouldn’t be necessary.
The people of Ruby and surrounds say that if Ruby Road is closed and all the pressure is on the Ruby/Arawata Road turn off, disaster will follow.
That’s because there is no designated turning lane from the South Gippsland Highway into Ruby/Arawata Road.
And, with much more traffic banked up there, there’s bound to be a nasty accident.
A designated right hand turning lane is needed, but that’s not on the agenda.
When acting infrastructure director Tony Price told the briefing session that council’s management plan would take care of the slashing needed on a closed Ruby Road, the gathering in the gallery guffawed.
“It’s full of weeds and rubbish now,” said Ruby CFA captain Darren Hardacre.
Former councillor, mayor and Ruby resident Nigel Hutchinson-Brooks, said he goes out of the Ruby Road y-intersection into South Gippsland Highway every day.
“It’s no different to joining a freeway in
Melbourne.”
His supporters applauded.
He waved his arms to underscore the point, “Why create something worse, it just doesn’t make sense.”
James Pickersgill was blunt.
It was he who had earlier provided councillors with a copy of part of the 2002 Parliamentary Inquiry into Rural Road Safety and Infrastructure, which observed that the removal of y-intersections “has been neither measurably effective nor has it created a significant improvement in traffic safety or cost savings.”
“We’ve been coming here for over two years with an air of co-operation,” a frustrated Mr Pickersgill told the briefing session.
“I’m disgusted!”
Mr Hardacre, who complained of having one day’s notice of the briefing session which was held at 4pm, sighed, “here we are again.”
He said no accident had been recorded on the Ruby Road entrance to the highway “and no one can remember any accident”.
If the Ruby/Arawata Road entrance was upgraded with a dedicated turning lane, local people would probably “go with the flow”.
But to close Ruby Road and not have such a turning lane at the other entrance, would be disastrous.
Mr Hardacre also complained that taking an 11 tonne CFA appliance up the narrow Ruby/Awarata Road in winter when it’s wet and “there are big ruts on the side of the road” would be a challenge he’d prefer not to contemplate.
The matter will come before the March 17 meeting of the council.
