Community
16 October, 2024
State unveils $964 million roads blitz
THE Allan Labor Government has officially announced its upcoming major road maintenance blitz – the largest single-year investment in road maintenance in the state’s history.
As Western District Newspapers reported last week, a $964 million road maintenance blitz has officially been announced to be completed over the upcoming drier months.
Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne said the investment would have a significant focus on regional Victoria.
“We’re investing nearly a billion dollars to rebuild and repair the roads that Victorians depend on every single day — from the highways connecting our major centres to the local roads that keep our communities moving,” she said.
“Crews will be out delivering $2.6 million of works every day for a year – with around 70 per cent of all funding going towards our regional roads.
“The last Liberal National Government cut roads maintenance funding and jobs – we’re getting on and delivering the biggest single-year investment in road maintenance in Victoria’s history.”
The works are expected to be rolled out over the next nine months, with crews to complete thousands of projects on the road network – ranging from road rehabilitation and resurfacing, to patching potholes and maintaining bridges, traffic lights, signage and road infrastructure.
The blitz will target the state’s busiest travel and trade routes, including the Princes Highway.
Repairs are set for impacted roads across the region, including long-awaited repairs to the dilapidated Terang-Mortlake Road.
Western District Newspapers understands the roads set to receive works were prioritised based on expert assessments and community feedback.
As reported last week, the Victorian Government has defended its record on roads due to the impact of heavy rainfall and flooding experienced over the past three years.
There must be extended periods of warmer and drier conditions to deliver road rebuilding and rehabilitation, which is why most work is done between October and May.
The Victorian Government said repeated flooding and above-average rainfall caused unprecedented damage to roads, which meant maintenance programs needed to focus on rebuilding damaged roads last year.
Now the work to rebuild the most flood-damaged roads is complete, resurfacing and rehabilitation levels are expected to significantly increase during the upcoming maintenance season.
The funding package also includes flood recovery works, with priority given to repairing regional Victoria’s flood-damaged roads, with the final list of flood recovery projects to be confirmed in the coming months.
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