Roads - funding commitment
It's great to see the Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews and Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten recognise the urgent need for road upgrades in Melbourne's South East.
A few days ago Mr Shorten announced his plan to pump $850 million into upgrading key arterial roads across the suburbs, if elected in the upcoming Federal election in May. It's all part of a wider commitment to go dollar-for-dollar with Premier Daniel Andrews to widen more than 300km of roads in a $1.7 billion infrastructure blitz.
You can see a picture of the roads that will receive funding on the Herald Sun website.
The upgrades include:
Adding an extra lane in each direction to Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road in Pakenham South, between Princes Freeway and Manks Road, with a new bridge over Deep Creek;
Adding an extra lane in each direction to Lathams Road in Seaford, between Oliphant Way and Dandenong-Frankston Road, with a new bridge over the Peninsula Link;
Adding an extra lane in each direction to Hallam North Road in Endeavour Hills, between Heatherton Road and James Cook Drive;
Adding an extra lane in each direction to Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road in Cranbourne, between Thompsons Road and the South Gippsland Highway;
Adding an extra lane in each direction to Pound Road West and Remington Drive in Dandenong South, between Abbotts Road and South Gippsland Highway, and building a new bridge over the Cranbourne train line;
Upgrading Golf Links and Grant Roads in Langwarrin South, and upgrading the six-way roundabout at Golf Links, Grant, Warrandyte and Baxter-Tooradin Roads.
Work on these six priority road projects will commence in early 2020 and be completed by 2025.
SEM's Councils have long been advocating for upgrades to many of the suggested roads as part of the South East Integrated Transport Strategy. Read the full strategy here