Great Ocean Road gets an extra $10 million

THE federal government has tipped in $10 million for upgrades along the Great Ocean Road, and wants the state government to match the funding.
Last week, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made the announcement as part of a $1.5 billion national infrastructure package.
The $10 million for the Great Ocean Road is included in $345 million for rural and regional road works.
Corangamite federal member Sarah Henderson said this funding would focus on projects that for her electorate.
She said the $10 million was on top of the $25 million already committed to the Great Ocean Road (along with another $25 million from the state government) until 2017/18.
This $50 million in funding has paid for major construction of a new bridge and pedestrian path in Separation Creek, works in Lorne between Stony Creek and the roundabout at Deans Marsh Road, rebuilding the Boggaley Creek Bridge north of Separation Creek, and works between Noble Street and Tonge Street in Anglesea, where Ms Henderson met Anglesea residents and business owners last week.
“The Great Ocean Road attracts 2.5 million visitors each year and is the centrepiece of our regional $2.1 billion tourism industry, supports 10,000 local jobs.”
Although the Labor state government cancelled last week’s infrastructure package also included a that decides build the East-West Link in Melbourne.
The state Coalition’s initial cost-benefit analysis for the $6.8 billion project found it had a return of only 45 cents in the dollar, later revised up to 84 cents and then $1.40.
Ms Henderson said the business case now before Infrastructure Australia was “very strong”.