Geelong's next decade hinges on getting Bay Road right
A safer, faster Bay Road would do more for Geelong's economy than another waterfront concept image.
Drive Bay Road on a wet Tuesday morning and you can read the next decade of Greater Geelong in the queue at the lights. The crawl between Belmont and the freeway is the single largest tax on this region's productivity, and we still talk about it like it is a council problem rather than a state one.
“We have spent three master plans designing how the waterfront looks in a render. The next generation will be decided by how long it takes them to get to work.”
There is a version of the next ten years where the Bellarine's three biggest growth corridors are linked by a real bus rapid-transit spine, and the freight that today idles past Newcomb Secondary moves on a dedicated lane. There is another version where we keep adding turning arrows and pretend it is a plan.
We have spent the last three master plans designing how the waterfront looks in a render. The thing that decides whether the next generation can afford to stay in Geelong is far less photogenic: how long it takes them to get to work.