Portland-Nelson Road slip lane operational to improve road safety

Residents and visitors to Portland alike will have noticed a new vehicle slip lane under construction on the Portland-Nelson Road. Although the final phase of asphalting and line-marking ended late last week, the project has been in the pipeline for OneFortyOne Plantations for some time.

The Portland-Nelson Road site houses a purpose built weighbridge for log trucks carrying OneFortyOne products from the forest to the Port of Portland. Over the past two years truck drivers entering the site have reported some serious near misses with other vehicles. These incidents have involved other road users misinterpreting truck drivers’ indicating to turn right into the site, as a permission to overtake them on the inside.

Thankfully there has been no accidents, but the potential consequences of the near misses were enough for OneFortyOne to have a slip lane built for all vehicles entering into their facility.

Work on the project has ramped up over the past nine months with OneFortyOne working with Vic Roads and other stakeholders at the site to design and build the slip lane.

OneFortyOne’s Export Manager Marcel Griffiths, said “We as a company are committed to the safety of our team, our contractor partners and the communities in which we operate. The building of this slip lane has enabled us to deliver that commitment to the Portland community”.