We've helped school students dig deep to expand Sunbury’s urban forest as part of National Tree Day celebrations recently.
Around 135 year 3 to 6 students from Kismet Primary School and Holy Trinity Primary School led the charge with their green thumbs during Schools Tree Day, taking part in a planting event on Friday 29 July.
The combined efforts saw over 300 young native trees and plants planted across the school grounds, as part of the Sunbury Road Upgrade, which partnered with students to plant vegetation to create a more sustainable environment for future generations.
National Tree Day is an opportunity for the whole community to get together to help protect the environment as part of a national initiative established by Planet Ark in 1996.
The Sunbury Road Upgrade team delivered a short presentation to the students and then demonstrated planting techniques before setting the kids loose to get their hands dirty to green their school grounds with indigenous trees and plants donated by Major Road Projects Victoria.
In the lead up to the day our project team enviro experts visited both Kismet Park and Holy Trinity to assess the areas to be vegetated. They then selected a range of indigenous trees and plants of varying sizes to best accommodate each school’s space.
The tree planting comes as construction work heats up at the intersection of Sunbury and Lancefield roads, where we’ll undertake 3 weeks of nightworks to demolish the existing roundabout and medians, install a smaller temporary roundabout and place traffic safety barriers. The works will allow us to start to build parts of the new upgraded intersection.
Delivering these safety and capacity improvements are vital to keeping the town moving, as the intersection is used by more than 25,000 drivers every day. This volume is predicted to increase significantly with housing and commercial developments currently being built along Lancefield and Sunbury Roads.
Improved street lighting and a walking and cycling path will also be delivered as part of the Sunbury Road Upgrade works at the intersection.
Works will intensify from August to October, with temporary barriers being installed along the entire project area on the Melbourne bound side of the road; from Bulla-Diggers Rest/Loemans Road all the way to Powlett Street. This will allow crews to step up works behind the barriers, building the additional lanes. Lane closures and speed reductions will be in place so please follow slow down and follow the directions of the traffic controllers and construction signage in place.
Once complete, the Sunbury Road Upgrade will deliver improved traffic flow, intersections with increased capacity, new safety barriers to lower the risk and severity of crashes and improve access to the Sunbury town centre.
The Sunbury Road Upgrade is scheduled for completion in 2025.