It was the height of morning peak hour traffic when Rebecca Clark's waters broke.
The first-time mother ventured out of her home in a housing estate in the outer Melbourne suburb of Kalkallo to drive herself to hospital.
Leaving the house at 8.45am, Rebecca waited in traffic for 1.5 hours, just to get out of her housing estate and onto a main road.
Riding the brakes and about to give birth, she started to worry.
"I was worried anything could happen really, you don't know what to expect as a first-time mum," she said.
"I was trying to come up with a plan B — if I started having bad contractions I thought I could call an ambulance, but they'd be stuck in traffic too."
She made it to hospital just in time to give birth to her son Arie only a few hours later.
Heavy congestion has been rife in the booming suburbs of Melbourne's outer north where streets are choked every weekday with snaking queues of frustrated drivers.
The sprawling suburban region has seen booming population growth that is far outpacing infrastructure, which has meant cars are often the only way to get around amid limited public transport options.
In 2016, the population of Kalkallo was just 105 people. By 2021, that figure ballooned to 6,466.
Rebecca described Kalkallo as a vibrant community with plenty of playgrounds, but said having just one road in and out of her estate on to Donnybrook Road is a major concern for locals, particularly in the event of an emergency.
"You start to think, what if there is a grassfire?" she said.
She said the congestion is made worse by the fact there are "six or seven other estates" in the area that are also trying to get onto Donnybrook Road.
Just up the road lies the Hume Freeway, but to access it, streams of cars have to give way to more traffic coming from the nearby suburb of Mickleham at a roundabout.
Premier says government will examine problems
The issue has attracted the attention of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who said the roads had "obviously not been particularly well-designed".
He said he was particularly concerned for residents' safety in emergency situations.
"I'm not sure if it's an issue for council, for VicRoads or the developer in the first instance," he said.
"For safety reasons, as well as just the obvious frustration those residents would be experiencing, we're more than happy to look at it and see if there's anything we can do."
The congestion became an election issue late last year when suburban voters said they felt neglected by a lack of services in the area.
Liberal Member for the Northern Metropolitan Region Evan Mulholland said the traffic in Kalkallo was the most common issue raised with his office.
"Locals are frustrated, they're stressed, and they're stuck in their home or office because of lousy planning by the state government," he said.
"Worryingly, after the recent grass fire at Beveridge, residents are concerned that if there were a 'leave now' alert due to fire, they wouldn't be able to get out.
"It's a catastrophe waiting to happen."
The Opposition has called on the state government to fast-track upgrades and make further improvements to traffic flow on Donnybrook Road.
As infrastructure has struggled to keep up with the population boom, public transport options to and from the estate are limited.
The only public bus comes every half hour and does not service the back of the estate, which means some residents face a 40-minute walk to the nearest bus stop.
Some local schools have arranged their own private buses to help students get to school on time.
While Donnybrook Station is located across from the Merri Creek, there is no pedestrian access so many residents are forced to drive to get there.
There are no footpaths or bike lanes on Donnybrook Road, which means pedestrians who leave the estate on foot must walk on the gravel shoulder of a busy highway.
Earlier this month, the Hume City Council told residents it was lobbying the state government to expedite $6 million to upgrade the roundabout at the corner of Donnybrook Road and Mitchell Street — a promise that was made in the lead up to last year's state election.
The Victorian government has plans to introduce a more direct bus service that will link Donnybrook Station with Craigieburn Station.
The housing estate's developer, Stockland, has begun work on a second exit on to Donnybrook Road, which is due to be completed next year.
In a statement, Stockland said it was "committed to working proactively and constructively with authorities to ensure the issue is addressed".
"This is a regional issue and Stockland is working closely with council and relevant state agencies to progress a number of traffic solutions as soon as possible," it said.
"Stockland has started construction on the Cloverton Boulevard Bridge, which will help to ease congestion and improve traffic flow for residents by providing a secondary access point to Cloverton."
The developer said it was also working with the Victorian government to upgrade the Mitchell Street roundabout with a dedicated left-turn lane onto the Hume Freeway, as well as looking at other temporary measures to ease congestion.
