The Victorian Government is rolling out almost a billion dollars’ worth of road maintenance works to rebuild, repair and resurface roads across the State.
The $964 million road maintenance blitz will be carried out between now and mid-2025, with crews delivering an equivalent of $2.6 million worth of works each day. Around 70 per cent of this significant funding will be going to regional Victoria.
Road workers will complete thousands of projects across Victoria’s road network over the next nine months. Works will range from road rehabilitation and resurfacing to patching potholes and maintaining bridges, traffic lights, signage and road infrastructure.
“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.
“Crews will be out delivering $2.6 million of works every day for a year – with around 70 per cent of all funding going towards our regional roads.
“The last Liberal National Government cut roads maintenance funding and jobs – we're getting on and delivering the biggest single-year investment in road maintenance in Victoria’s history,” Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne said.
To ensure repairs done to the road network will last, works will be carried out between now and May when extended periods of warmer and drier conditions are expected.
Repeated flooding and significant rainfall caused unprecedented damage to local roads, meaning the maintenance program focused on rebuilding damaged roads last year – simply resurfacing these roads would not have prevented further degradation.
Now, road resurfacing and rehabilitation levels will significantly increase during the upcoming maintenance season.
This road maintenance blitz will target Victoria’s busiest travel and trade routes, including the Hume Freeway, the Princes Highway, the Western Highway, the Goulburn Valley Highway and Echuca-Mooroopna Road.
Other roads that will be repaired include Terang-Mortlake Road, Mornington-Flinders Road, Horsham-Kalkee Road and Tylden-Woodend Road.
These roads are being prioritised based on expert assessments and community feedback, ensuring the works are focused on where they are most needed.
Flood recovery works will also be included in this road maintenance blitz, with priority given to repairing regional Victoria’s flood-damaged roads. The final list of flood recovery project will be confirmed in the coming months.
Source: Premier of Victoria – Media Centre; Star News; Fully Loaded; Infrastructure Magazine