Three years on and traffic lights still not turned on

By Djembe Archibald

Feb 7, 2024

For three years, ‘new’ traffic lights have sat near the Shepparton Art Museum on Wyndham St and for three years they have had a ‘not in use’ sign attached.

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The lights were installed as part of a $3.1 million road upgrade to the surrounding area.

In a News article published on September 16, 2020, mayor at the time Seema Abdullah said works would start in October 2020 and were expected to be finished by January 2021.

In February of 2022, a little more than a year after they were projected to turn on, The News published an article on the situation.

In that article, the Department of Transport advised that discussions were under way between Rail Projects Victoria and the council to identify interim and long-term solutions to the traffic light activation as part of stage two and stage three of the rail line upgrade works.

In June of 2022, it was confirmed that the lights wouldn’t be turned on until stage three of the Shepparton rail line upgrade was completed, which was projected to finish in late 2023.

In late January 2024, The News reached out to Greater Shepparton City Council, V/Line and the Department of Transport and Planning, inquiring about the Wyndham St traffic lights.

The council did not provide a comment on the traffic lights and referred The News to Regional Roads Victoria.

Rail Projects Victoria made contact with The News to discuss the lights.

“Rail Projects Victoria is supporting the Department of Transport and Planning in co-ordinating the delivery of Shepparton Line Upgrade stage three works with other important projects, such as the Wyndham St intersection upgrade,” a spokesperson said.

“Installing new traffic lights near any rail level crossing requires upgrades to train signalling systems to ensure the lights are safely co-ordinated with the activation of the level crossing.”