Alwyn Street truck ban and speed reduction on Whitehorse agenda

"Is the juice really worth the squeeze here?" asked one councillor, who voted against the motion.

Matthew Sims
May 13, 2025

Whitehorse Council has taken the first step in pushing for the State Government to ban trucks and reduce speed limits along Alwyn Street in Mitcham, in an attempt to reduce “rat running” along the residential street.

Councillor Ben Stennett moved a motion at the council’s meeting on Monday night to seek a report into council’s actions along Alwyn Street to date, and recommendations about the best way to advocate for further changes.

The changes would include reducing the speed limit, banning trucks, introducing time turn bans for those turning right off Rooks Road onto Alwyn Street and requesting the Department of Transport carry out a review of traffic signal sequencing on nearby major intersections.

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What has Whitehorse Council done so far?

Stennett said his motion came off the back of a petition about five years ago made by local residents who were “fed up” with "inappropriately large trucks” using the roads, occasionally hitting tree branches and parked cars.

Following the petition, Whitehorse Council approved funding for the installation of three new speed humps along the road. They were finally installed in May 2024.

What was the response from councillors?

Councillor Blair Barker spoke against the motion, saying he believed the council had done enough to make the road safe.

“We get to a point of diminishing marginal returns here and unintended consequences,” he said. “Is the juice really worth the squeeze here?”

Barker said if residents along Alwyn Street wanted to discourage trucks or cars using the street as a shortcut, they should park their cars on the road.

Stennett said “council clearly has a role to advocate here. Cars are already parked on the street and that doesn’t stop the speeding cars and large trucks going through”.

Whitehorse Council passed the motion eight votes to three.

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What was the response from locals?

Mitcham resident David Parry was the only resident speaking to the motion on the night, arguing it would be “a big waste of everybody’s time and money”.

“We’ve done something about it but perhaps now it’s time to put an end to it,” he said. “The real problem is the population is going up. It used to be a quiet suburb.”