One billion dollars pledged to fix roads

The Victorian Government has announced a massive road maintenance “blitz” comprising thousands of projects ranging from road rehabilitation and resurfacing, to patching potholes and maintaining bridges, traffic lights, signage and road infrastructure.

It represents the largest single-year investment in road maintenance in the state’s history.

The investment is a shift from last year’s maintenance program, which focused on flood-damaged roads after several well-documented flood events.

As yet unconfirmed further flood recovery works will also be included in this package however, with priority given to regional Victoria.

Most of the individual projects are expected to be carried out in the warmer and drier months to make sure repairs remain in place.

Some of the state’s busiest travel and trade routes will be targeted, including the Hume Freeway, the Princes Highway, the Western Highway, the Goulburn Valley Highway and Echuca-Mooroopna Road.

Other roads set to be repaired include Terang-Mortlake Road, Mornington-Flinders Road, Horsham-Kalkee Road, Tylden-Woodend Road, Heathcote-Rochester Road, Bendigo-Redesdale Road, Bacchus Marsh-Gisborne Road and the Midland Highway.

These thoroughfares were prioritised based on expert assessments and community feedback.

Minister for roads and road safety Melissa Horne said the investment represents $2.6 million worth of works every day for one year – with around 70 per cent of all funding being directed towards the state’s regions.

“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.