By AIDAN KNIGHT
LATROBE City Council is frustrated that key infrastructure isn’t being put to use.
After years of delays and mounting community angst, hopes for a near-term fix have been dashed once more for Traralgon’s Bank Street intersection’s dormant traffic lights.
A key safety upgrade for one of Traralgon’s busiest strips has been pushed back yet again, with Latrobe City Council receiving confirmation that the long-promised Bank St lights will remain switched off until at least 2027.
The email came from state Minister Melissa Horne, who was Minister for Roads and Road Safety when council met with her in February. The portfolio now belongs to Ros Spence.
Latrobe City Jeeralang Ward Councillor, Joanne Campbell, has renewed calls for the lights to be installed as a matter of urgency.
“I felt disgusted, frankly, when I received the news,” she told the Express.
“I feel that not only council, but the entire community have been misled by the state government. It’s almost as if we’d have to shut the highway for them to do anything.”
Cr Campbell stated that she was “unsure” if a fatality needed to occur before any action took place.
“That’s the risk we face,” she said.
“They’ve started other projects that are less pressing in terms of safety, in Tyers and other lower-traffic areas, before finishing this one.”
Construction of the Bank St intersection upgrade (including the installation of the traffic lights) was largely completed around 2018-19, which is why councillors are now referencing a delay approaching eight years.
With the infrastructure ready and the lights still not activated, the community and councillors have become increasingly frustrated with the neglect from state powers, who have consistently tied delays to issues of approval and coordination between agencies.
The Bank St intersection has been the site of multiple incidents in recent years, including a crash in July 2024 involving a bus and car. While no serious injuries were recorded, councillors argue the incidents highlight the urgent need for a permanent safety solution.
Despite interim measures such as reduced speed limits, concerns remain about inconsistent traffic conditions along the stretch of road, which transitions between 80km/h, 60km/h and 70km/h zones within a short distance.
The state government had previously advised a completion timeframe “by the end of 2026”, but the latest correspondence pushes that expectation back further, without a detailed breakdown of remaining works.
“I don’t think it would take this long if it were in Melbourne,” Cr Campbell said plainly.
Cr Campbell said she was prepared to take the matter further, even if it meant going to the federal government.
The issue already has a voice in that arena, through Federal Member for Gippsland and Nationals deputy leader Darren Chester.
Mr Chester and party colleague Martin Cameron (Member for Morwell) have been pressing the state government for answers for more than three years.
“We’ve been given more bulldust excuses and supposed deadlines for nothing to happen,” Mr Chester said.
“The state government claimed they (the lights) couldn’t be synchronised to the railway crossing while works were underway on the Gippsland line.”
Mr Cameron posted a video standing at the contentious intersection last month, holding a copy of every letter he had sent the state government appealing for works to be completed.
These totalled 11 separate letters.
Mr Cameron said that the reduction of the speed limit to mitigate risk “fails to live up to the expectations of regional Victorians”, and that “everybody in the Latrobe Valley is paying the price”.
The public shared similar thoughts. In response to the Express story ‘Council implores Victorian state government to turn the lights on’, from March this year, one resident commented online, telling everyone to “forget it” when attempting to cross the highway. Another said “my heart beats so fast when I see the older man that drives his golf buggy down Bank St and over to the golf course.”
Cr Campbell isn’t just upset with the functional state of the intersection, but with the visual aesthetic and upkeep of what is many visitors first welcome into the biggest town in Latrobe City.
On the right side of the highway Traralgon-bound, there is an excessive amount of unmaintained wild blackberries and other vegetation, creeping onto the road from next to the train line.
“I find this really disappointing,” Cr Campbell said, who also confirmed she had gotten in touch with VicTrack.
The Express asked VicTrack for comment. This was referred from VicTrack (the rail owner) to V/Line (the operator), who determined it was the responsibility of the roads minister.
Nearly eight years after installation, the lights remain dark – and with shifting deadlines, unclear responsibility and no firm commitment from the state, the question now facing the Latrobe Valley is not when the lights will be switched on, but what it will take to make them do so.
