Driving lobby RACV wants highway upgrades high on agenda
Up to $4.6 billion needs to be spent on regional Victoria’s infrastructure within a decade to help address transport demands, a survey shows.
RACV’s Regional Growing Pains report, which gauged the opinions of almost 8,000 people including local councils, transport operators and government agencies, shows road and public transport is in urgent need of attention to help meet a growing population.
The group is calling on the Victorian Government to connect the Metropolitan Ring Road from Greensborough to the Eastern Freeway and duplicate the Princes Highway from Traralgon to Sale and from Geelong to Colac.
It also wants to see the Western Highway duplicated between Ballarat and Stawell and a bypass constructed on the Goulburn Valley Highway in Shepparton.
More than 5,500 vehicles use the Western Highway in Ballarat each day of which 1,500 are trucks.
Traffic on the highway, which is Victoria’s main transport corridor, is set to double by 2025.
The report suggests a bypass to be built in Traralgon east of Princes Highway, and public transport options to the Avalon Airport improved.
Only 2 per cent of the 2,885km of the State’s major highway network is considered to be safe, RACV public policy general manager Brian Negus says.
“An investment of approximately $580 million would achieve the minimum three safety star standard needed on Victoria’s major highways,” Negus says.
“This investment in safety upgrades would save at least 2,800 people from serious injury or death over the next 20 years.”