Kerri Acquisto from Billabong Ranch spoke at the council meeting in January, imploring councillors to investigate alternative options for Glanville Rd, between Looker and Tehan roads.
‘‘We have personally had a couple of experiences where our cars, even though we’re familiar with the roads and conditions and speeds that are safe ... we have had both of our children run off the road,’’ she said.
‘‘From one of them we received quite a frightening phone call saying ‘Hey dad, what do you do when your seat belt is locked on and you’re hanging upside down?’.
‘‘It wasn’t a nice one.’’
The unsealed road is about 10 minutes from Echuca and Mrs Acquisto has lived nearby for 20 years.
‘‘And although the road does get graded fairly regularly the conditions are often challenging,’’ she said.
Mrs Acquisto said a school bus and several farms — including one who uses the road up to 16 times a day in the busy times of year — use the road.
‘‘There’s often ag-machinery who use this road as a thoroughfare rather than the highway and it’s also a bit of an entrance to Wakiti Creek and of course Billabong Ranch ... it can be very dusty and visibility can be extremely poor,’’ she said.
‘‘In winter vehicles can be known to slide off the road including the local school bus which we’ve pulled off the side of the road twice.
‘‘We’ve had quite a few suppliers that refuse to deliver goods to us because they complain about getting dust in their vehicles or they claim their vehicles have been damaged by going out there.
‘‘From a safety perspective we probably have about 9000 school children visit per year for camps. That’s more than 100 busses dropping off and picking up throughout the year.’’
Council received the petition, signed by 438 people, in October, 2018 and noted it at the council meeting.
Council said it would need to complete an investigation (subject to funding) to identify the options available to improve the level of service being provided.
A project charter to fund the proposed investigation has been submitted to the 2019/20 budget for council’s consideration.
The road is gravel and unsealed, about 6m wide and 3.25km long.
Council said a 2014 traffic count along it showed 235 vehicles over a 24 hour period used the road but Mrs Acquisto believe that number has increased and an updated traffic count has been requested.
‘‘We’re offering an option that might not get an immediate response for you but we’re on track to get something to happen ... to ensure we are doing the best that we can for you,’’ deputy mayor Vicki Neele said at the meeting.
