Road program tops council alliance’s election list

ROADS and bridges are at the top of the state election agenda for an advocacy body of local councils.

The Greater Ballarat Alliance of Councils (GBAC) wants the state government to reinstate a long-term country roads and bridges program for regional Victoria.

The plan is number one on the organisation’s state election advocacy platform.

GBAC, which includes the City of Ballarat, Moorabool Shire Council, Golden Plains Shire Council, Hepburn Shire Council, Pyrenees Shire Council, and Central Goldfields Shire Council, said the program was needed to deal with pressure on council-managed road and bridge networks.

The platform’s launch earlier this week was held at Bridge 5 on Avoca-Bealiba Road in the Pyrenees Shire.

Bridge 5 was built in 1942 and is load-limited to 45 tonnes, restricting access for heavy agricultural and freight vehicles.

“Bridge 5 reflects a wider issue across regional Victoria that GBAC is highlighting through its state election advocacy,” GBAC chair and Ballarat mayor Cr Tracey Hargreaves said.

“We are calling for a reinstated long-term country roads and bridges program that recognises the essential role council-managed networks play in freight, agriculture and connectivity across the state.

“Across GBAC councils, roads and bridges are under increasing pressure, with funding not keeping pace with need.”

Cr Hargreaves said the duplication of Dyson Drive remained the City of Ballarat’s highest priority road project.

“The current Dyson Drive was built as a rural road at the fringe of Ballarat’s urban area,” she said. “In the last decade the suburbs of Lucas and Alfredton have rapidly built up around it.

“Duplication will alleviate traffic congestion and improve safety for residents, commuters and businesses.”

Meanwhile, Golden Plains mayor Cr Owen Sharkey nominated Post Office Road in Ross Creek as in need of an upgrade as part of a country roads and bridges program.

“With funding support, council would be able to widen a 1.8km section of the road to a safer, two-lane carriageway that delivers important safety improvements, including barriers,” he said.

In Moorabool, mayor Cr Steve Venditti-Taylor said his council under such a plan would put forward projects such as the Woolpack Road bridge replacement and Ballan Meredith Road upgrade.

Along with the roads scheme, the platform had other items as part of its agenda.

It included expanding regional and rural public transport, increasing funding for digital connectivity as well as regional planning hubs, establishing a fund enabling infrastructure to unlock housing and industry, maintaining freight access through Sunshine Station and reinstating the regional jobs and infrastructure fund.