Sunraysia Highway Improvement Committee
Published on 09 August 2021
Sunraysia Highway Improvement Committee
The Sunraysia Highway Improvement Committee (SHIC) has been established to advocate for the Sunraysia Highway that extends from Ballarat to south of Ouyen. The Committee is comprised of both Councillors and staff representatives for each of the six municipalities along the length of the highway, together with representatives from the Department of Transport and technical consultants. The Committee meets approximately 4 times per year.
At the February 2021 meeting via Zoom the Committee acknowledged the extensive work that has just been completed on the highway and the work that is planned for the remainder of 2020/21. There has been a large amount of bituminous surfacing work occurring on the Sunraysia Highway and it is making a significant improvement to the highway. Between the two regions, there has been close to 45km of the Sunraysia Highway that has been sealed or resurfaced in one financial year and Regional Roads Victoria needs to have a ‘pat on the back’ for all the work that they are organising on the highway. It was recognised that the slurry seals appear to be working well and that this may be a better approach to addressing the roughness on the highway.
There is a federal funding commitment of $10 million for the Sunraysia Highway, however, Regional Roads Victoria (RRV) are waiting for this funding to be released. It is expected that part of the $10 million funding will be used for the Birchip-Rainbow Road / McLoughlan’s Road intersection. Further planning is required to ensure that the remainder of the funding is invested in road infrastructure to get the best community benefit.
In addition, RRV - Grampians Region has been able to secure some of the stimulus funding to complete approximately 8km of 1.2m width shoulder sealing between Lillicur and Lamplough, and this work needs to be completed within six months. This project will address a number of run off road crashes that have occurred through this section.
The Department of Transport is getting close to finalising the Sunraysia Highway Corridor Strategic Plan and they have taken on board the feedback from the Committee and responses from the freight industry and hay processors.
The Department of Infrastructure is undertaking a state wide review of the Principal Freight Network and looking at key intermodal locations and network adjustments. The committee contributed a comprehensive submission advocating for the Sunraysia Highway as part of this review.
It was agreed that the Sunraysia Highway Improvement Committee would prepare a letter of support for funding of the Murray Basin Rail Project as there needs to be better balance between the highway and the rail infrastructure in order to achieve the best for the region.
At the May 2021 meeting at St Arnaud the Committee discussed priority projects to nominate for completion with the federal government’s funding commitment. The Committee’s priorities were to address road safety issues through widening of narrow sections south of St Arnaud and north of Woomelang, and improving overtaking opportunities south of Lexton. These priorities have been forwarded to RRV for consideration.
The Committee noted that improvement works are occurring in some of the townships along the length of the highway, in particular Avoca and Birchip, with some work planned for Lexton. It was acknowledged that progressively all these works will result in a better journey overall for travellers on the highway.
The next meeting of the Sunraysia Highway Improvement Committee is scheduled for Tuesday 31st August, 2021.