Concerned residents have called on VicRoads and Warrnambool City Council to restrict the number of trucks using Baynes Street and The Esplanade in the town's south as a detour route to the industrial estate.

Dennington Community Association (DCA) said while the number of trucks using the route has reduced after complaints from residents, freight traffic was still high along the suburban streets.

DCA secretary David Kelson said the use of suburban streets as an alternative route to the industrial estate heightened the possibility of serious accidents involving children and elderly drivers.

He said the Walsh and Rooneys road intersections along Raglan Parade were the proper thoroughfares for industrial estate vehicles but acknowledged that the two areas became congested with traffic in the morning and mid-afternoon.

"We're happy with trucks that come to streets in Dennington with a specific purpose of accessing that area," Mr Kelson said.

"What we are against is truck drivers using Harrington Road and Baynes Street as detour routes around Dennington to get to the industrial estate.

"Having that extra heavy vehicle traffic poses a risk to cars reversing out of driveways or children playing around the streets."

DCA member Graham Conn said the Rooneys Road/Raglan Parade junction needed to be upgraded as truck drivers avoided the intersection in favour of Dennington streets.

"There's been a few accidents there in the past and it's easy to see why," he said.

"You have two lanes of traffic merging into one on the south side and the reverse on the north side as well as another lane of traffic veering to the left to the Dennington underpass."

Under the proposal, no truck signs would be erected along Raglan Parade at The Esplanade, Tylden and Lindsay streets intersections and along Harrington Road as motorists enter the town from the south.

Warrnambool Traffic Management Unit acting sergeant Dean Owens warned truck drivers not to use the streets as a detour as it added to traffic along the narrow roads.

"Trucks should be using either Rooneys Road or Walsh Road to get from the industrial estate to the highway," he said.

"The roads around Dennington are over hills and are narrow so there is a risk to motorists as well as being in close proximity to a built-up area."

In a submission to council Western District Roadsafe chairman David Atkinson said he understood the residents' concerns, adding that any proposal to alter dangerous road conditions was to be applauded.