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Wednesday:A REGULAR user of the new turbo intersection that connects Stawell Road, McPherson Street and O'Callaghan's Parade has called for the state government to consider resurfacing the road.
James Murphy works for a grain research company at Horsham's King Drive industrial estate and regularly has to transit through the roundabout to get to areas north of the city.
He also lives off Williams Road and needs to merge left when trying to get home from O'Callaghan's Parade.
"The main safety concern for me is the actual surface structure of the roundabout," he said.
"To me it hasn't been built to standard; it just doesn't seem to flow as well as what it should. It's probably okay in a motor vehicle or a car, but in a heavy vehicle it's quite undulating and not very conducive to the speed of the traffic that's going through there.
"The merger issue happens between exiting the roundabout heading towards Melbourne. You've actually got to switch sides to get across to the left hand lane to then turn left at Williams Road at the traffic lights, so there can be some real merger issues there if you've got a lot of traffic coming from McPherson street and getting there - legally - in a short period of time.
"I've almost had to come to a stop on the bridge trying to get across."
The state government completed upgrades to the intersection in December. The new intersection eliminates the need for Adelaide-bound vehicles to cross lanes within the roundabout in order to exit via the right-hand lane.
Regional Roads Victoria said, in the five-year period leading up to June 2018, there were 10 serious crashes at this intersection, which resulted in 15 people being seriously injured.
Mr Murphy uses a nine-tonne truck as part of his job. This means he has to take the new roundabout more slowly than cars. He said he had witnessed near misses at the new roundabout.
"You've only got to get four or five trucks travelling in that same direction on McPherson Street at the same time meeting at the intersection and you've got an issue getting across," he said.
"I think they need to go back to the surface of the road and ensure the surface is dead flat on that roundabout to ensure a better flow of traffic."
Regional Roads Victoria western region manger Mal Kerstig said the feedback the body had received from drivers, including freight operators, had been overwhelmingly positive.
“This particular design eliminates several potential crash zones, as well as prioritising the flow of north and south-bound traffic through what is one of Horsham’s busiest intersections,” Mr Kerstig said.
Mr Kerstig's predecessor Brad Pryor told the Mail-Times in February plans for the upgrade were finalised following a community consultation process, which involved a local cycling advisory group among others.
“Access for cyclists has been made easier and safer thanks to additional signage for shared paths, new access points, and widening of the shared paths on the traffic islands to provide greater separation between cyclists and other vehicles,” he said.
A Regional Roads Victoria spokesperson said there were no plans for any further upgrades, but it would continue to closely monitor the safety and operation of the intersection.
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