Drysdale By Pass Community Consultation starts mid April

The Geelong Advertiser reports today that"

"VicRoads is hosting open sessions where residents can see the latest options for the bypass, and provide input into issues such as intersections and improvements to High St....

Community consultation sessions will be held in:

— Drysdale on April 15 between 3pm and 7pm at the Springdale Neighbourhood Centre.

— Portarlington on April 22 between 3.30pm and 7pm at the Portarlington Neighbourhood

House."

Drysdale ByPass could be built if the Victorian Coalition Government gets back in

The Geelong Advertiser reports today that

"THE long-awaited Drysdale bypass will be built if the Coalition is returned to government next month.

Premier Denis Napthine will today make an official $106 million election commitment to build the road in the hotly contested seat of Bellarine.

Plans seen by the Geelong Advertiser show the two-lane road will stretch for 5.9km from the major roundabout on the southwest entry to the town and rejoin Portarlington Rd to the town’s north near Whitcombes Rd..."

Read more at: http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/news/geelong/liberals-promise-to-build-drysdale-bypass-if-they-win-election/story-fnjuhovy-1227092900904

The road will be started in 2016 and completed in 2019.

Drysdale's Murradoc Road's shoulders abandoned by VicRoads?

It appears VicRoads have stopped work on sealing Murradoc Road's shoulders.

While they did a great job of rolling part of the shoulders and fixing the gravel as well as fixing some of the drains, they have not finished the work.

The Drysdale side of the big hill is a bit of a mess - the shoulders encroach over the road - part of the bitumen has disappeared.

On the St Leonards side of the hill the shoulders have just been left.

Did VicRoads not allocate enough money to finish the job?

Such a pity - it would have been great for the cyclists for summer.

Hope they come back and do what we all thought they were going to do, otherwise it is all a bit of a let down :-(

Murradoc Road's shoulders are getting sealed - finally a safer road for cyclists!

A letter arrived in the mail today from VicRoads:

Construction Works - Murradoc Road between Mortimer Street and Becks Road, Drysdale

VicRoads wishes to advise you that construction works on Murradoc Road between Mortimer Street and Becks Road, Drysdale will commence on Monday 6 May 2013.

Works will include construction of a sealed shoulder and road safety improvements in both directions of Murradoc Road.

Works will be carried out within the hours of 7am and 5pm Monday to Sunday, subject to weather and are expected to be completed by end June 2013.

Finally the shoulders will be sealed and it will be safer for cyclists.  This is a great win for everyone!

Another Cyclist Hit by a Car on Murradoc Road

Saturday morning another cyclist was hit on Murradoc Road in Drysdale - this time the driver did not stop.

Hit-run rider left for dead, by Andrea Hamblin. Geelong Advertiser, October 29th, 2012. "A Cyclist who was hit by a car on one of the Bellarine's most dangerous roads has pleaded for the public's help to find the driver who almost killed him. Andrew McKendry was riding in a 100km/h zone on Murradoc Rd, between St Leonards and Drysdale, when he was struck from behind by a passing car about 10.30am on Saturday. He said he was flung from his bike and left bleeding in a roadside ditch, screaming for help.

It has been 21 months since a cyclist was killed on Murradoc Road out side my house. That day is forever etched in my memory.

So far nothing has been done to make Murradoc Road safer for cyclists.

Murradoc Road is a Victorian government funded road - VicRoads has the responsibility to fix it.  It is not obviously high on their list of priorities.

So what price do you put on a human life - fortunately Andrew McKendry will live to ride another day. He was lucky.  What about the next person?

Proposed Development Plans for the Drysdale and Clifton Springs area would be Overdevelopment

The Age newspaper yesterday published a detailed map entitled "Proposed 2040 Road Network Development" (pdf format -12mb) for Melbourne and surrounding areas. The surrounding areas also took in Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula. The article is entitled Plan for hundreds of kilometers of new freeways.

The map was published in pdf format on 23 December 2009 (the date stamp on the pdf document) and one assumes prepared by VicRoads - however "VicRoads would not confirm when the map was produced, but it is believed to have been done with planning authorities as part of a long-term study looking at the city's shape in 2046".

What is interesting about this map is the planned future development of the Drysdale and Clifton Springs area. Although hard to see until you blow the map up to about 400% in Adobe Acrobat, there are shaded areas in pale pink showing expansion plans for residential development in the area.

This residential development goes further than that currently existing in the Geelong Council Drysdale Clifton Springs Structure plan for the area. There are now Proposed Urban Growth Boundary Extensions to the east of the proposed Drysdale bypass road and this takes in Scotchmans Road to the top of Murradoc Hill and down to Anderson's Road. Also the Jetty Road urban development is shown to extend from the Portarlington Road, down Jetty Road along the shores of Corio Bay and across to Scarborough Road.

The Geelong Council recently adopted the Amendment C177 to provide Significant Landscape Overlay to 5 areas of the Bellarine Peninsula including Clifton Springs and Drysdale. This significant overlay took in Murradoc Hill - which is shown as now being set aside for proposed urban growth!

You have to ask - whether the Geelong Council planning department was consulted prior to the development of this plan for our local area? Was there any consultation with the Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association? The Association has already come out in last Friday's Bellarine Independent outlaying their fears that Clifton Springs is becoming 'broad-acre' housing under a Geelong Council plan. Perhaps this is the Department of Planning and Community Development's work in association with VicRoads?

You can imagine the price of real estate on the top of Murradoc Hill with commanding 360 degree views! Developers would be rubbing their hands together with glee!

I just hope there is community consultation on this going into the future. I don't want to see large scale residential development as they have proposed. The Bellarine Peninsula will just become one giant housing estate!

Below is an extract taken from the map showing the shaded areas. You have to look really hard to see them - best way to view this is to download the detailed map entitled "Proposed 2040 Road Network Development" (pdf format -12mb).

Drysdale bypass is not a VicRoads priority reports Bellarine Times

An article in this weeks Bellarine Times (page 3, 9 March 2010 issue) reports:

"VicRoads has spent up to $5million buying land along a proposed Drysdale bypass route, but the project is not a priority."

The cost will be somewhere in the vicinity of $50m to $70m but the traffic volume does not justify raising its priority level.

More information is available at the Bellarine Times.