News

$41.3m to help repair major Victorian freight routes

The Victorian Government has announced a second round of major roadworks to fix some of the state’s most badly flood-affected areas.

Targeting affected roads in the state’s north, west and south-west, the $41.3 million of works will enable crews to complete over 460 individual projects across major freight and travel routes, including the Glenelg, Goulburn Valley and Sunraysia highways.

Other roads set to undergo repairs include Elmore-Raywood Road, Bendigo-Pyramid Road, Mortlake-Ararat Road and Dimboola-Rainbow Road.

Works to be delivered under the program will see some sections of flood-damaged roads completely rebuilt, along with large-scale asphalt patching and resurfacing.

Other projects will include landslip repairs, clearing debris from roadsides, drains and culverts and repairing structures affected by the recent floods and extreme rainfalls.

Some of these repair works are already underway, while others will begin as extended periods of warmer, drier weather provide more suitable conditions for rebuilding works.

The second round of works follows on from the initial $89.8 million emergency repairs announced in early December, which has delivered major repairs on the Hume, Western and Midland highways.

“Floods and extreme rainfall have caused major damage to roads right across the state, but Victorians can rest assured that we’re delivering the long-term repairs where they are needed most,” said Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne.

“We are starting the first large-scale repairs in the north of the state, where we’ve seen some of the worst damage caused by these floods – our crews are working around the clock to make sure people and freight can keep moving safely on our roads.”

Currently, there are more than 370 roads, made up of a mix of arterial and local roads, that remain closed across the state.

Since October 2022, more than 120 kilometres of asphalting and rebuilding works have been completed and a further 80 kilometres of work is currently underway.

More than 85 kilometres of roadside and drainage clearing, and cleaning has also been delivered to date, with a further 50 kilometres of work currently underway.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Send this to a friend