Meeting to discuss traffic on Coalmine Road

ROAD access in Anglesea is back on the agenda, with the Aireys Inlet and District Association (AIDA) announcing it will host a community meeting on Saturday to discuss the implications of re-opening Coalmine Road to through traffic.

Surf Coast Shire chief executive officer Keith Baillie and Anglesea Ward councillors Libby Coker and Margot Smith will address the meeting in Aireys Inlet about the options the council will consider, take questions and listen to feedback from the community.

In a statement, AIDA said Alcoa was required to re-align and enable the re-opening of Coalmine Road as part of the rehabilitation works at the Anglesea coal mine.

“The works raise a question for the Surf Coast Shire: should Coalmine Road remain blocked off, should it be available for emergency vehicles only, or should it be reopened for general traffic?

“The re-opening of Coalmine Road would allow vehicles to travel along it to Distillery Creek Road and onto Bambra Road or Old Coach Road, effectively providing a bypass around Anglesea.

“This could become very popular to avoid the ongoing summer traffic jams at the Anglesea roundabout. The growth of traffic along Coalmine Road, Distillery Creek Road, and Bambra Road will result in increased traffic down Bambra Road, Bimbadeen Drive and Old Coach Road.”

An Anglesea bypass, in whatever form, has been a highly contentious subject in the region for some time.

The shire’s original submission to the Anglesea Futures project suggested studying changes to Anglesea’s road network, with the existing route along Coalmine Road and Messmate Track connecting to Harvey Street listed as “an option for consideration”.

Despite the shire explicitly stating the option “will be to assist the movement of local traffic using a local road network and not result in an Anglesea ring road, highway or bypass”, Corangamite federal member Sarah Henderson and some Anglesea residents said the option would be a “pseudobypass”, and the the public backlash forced the shire to amend its submission.

VicRoads has said it is opposed to a bypass because of the risks its users would be exposed to during a bushfire.

The community meeting will be held in the Aireys Inlet Hall on Saturday August 4 at 11am.