This morning on the way to Clayton Church, a number of congregation members would have experienced the traffic jam along Clayton Road, caused by the level crossing boom gates remaining down. Police were also seen directing traffic through the railway level crossing intersection at Centre Road. As a courtesy, the church broadcast an SMS message “Centre Rd & Clayton Rd boom gates are faulty. Please use alternative road. Service will be delayed for 15 mins“.
This experience only highlights the high level of dependency the church community places on the level crossing. It also reinforces my point — and the value of my article on the ‘dream’ for achieving grade separation for the local area. We are fortunate that there has yet to be the worst case incident whereby ambulance services need to get to the nearby Monash Medical Centre for an emergency life-threatening condition. While we pray against such occurrences, is that the price we have to ultimately pay in order to get the appropriate action from our leaders in government and get these kinds of inefficiencies addressed?
