Alternative plan for highway work at Mt Victoria

Local architect Peter Buckwell has suggested a link road be built between Mt Piddington Road and Harley Avenue. It would become the major intersection in town and stop large trucks driving through the village along Station Street to access Bells Line of Road.

The heavy trucks would instead use the link road to move from the highway towards the Darling Causeway. At the same time, local and tourist traffic would be able to drive into the town.

Mr Buckwell said business owners supported the link road, which had been nine months in development.

"The health of the town is very, very important and the RMS have completely disregarded any of our concerns," he said.

"It's supposed to be a safety upgrade - there are so many instances along here where the design is really unsafe. You have to really take your life into your hands [trying to turn on to the highway from some of the side streets]."

Local David May, a member of the Mount Victoria business and heritage group, said he believed the RMS's current plans, which include a service road for residential access, will destroy the amenity of the village. The service road would slice into the hillside on the eastern approach to town and plans also include "obtrusive barriers looming over the old railway cottage", he said.

"The key point in terms of the proposed RMS works is that they will actually accentuate the already difficult traffic situation in the centre of the village. It is a pinch-point that cannot be significantly altered for space/heritage reasons and it is becoming increasingly dangerous even now. In trying to solve problems elsewhere the RMS will make this area even more problematical."

He said Mr Buckwell's plan takes the pressure off Station Street.

"It becomes free of trucks and the village can regenerate."

He conceded that the new intersection would have to be big but he said there were no private houses directly adjacent and the RMS already owned the land it would need.

But the deadline is tight. The business and heritage group wrote to the Roads Minister, Duncan Gay, on January 24, asking for a moratorium on planned work on the eastern approach to the town while the alternative is discussed. They had not heard back from the minister.