One of the state’s “most dangerous roads” will get a $20 million safety overhaul.
Major works will be carried out on a 37- kilometre stretch of the Melbourne-Lancefield Road, as part of $20 million allocated in the recent state budget.
Separate funding has been allocated for two notorious New Gisborne intersections after a six-year campaign by locals.
Planning has already started on improving safety at the Saunders and Station roads intersection and the Pierce and Gisborne-Kilmore roads intersection.
Chairman of the Gisborne Roads Group Russell Mowatt said the upgrades were the culmination of six long, hard years of work by the group, Vic Roads, former councillors, various stakeholders and Macedon MP Mary-Anne Thomas.
“These works are the start of the big picture,” he said.
Mr Mowatt said the works would eventually address the growing traffic volumes along this stretch of arterial road.
There are about 18,000 vehicle movements on the road per day, including 1169 heavy vehicles, according to the recent Gisborne Movement Network Study.
Ms Thomas said residents had been calling for work at the Saunders Road intersection for years.
“It has been raised time and again as a traffic blackspot,” she said.
Funding for the Melbourne-Lancefield Road will be used to add overtaking lanes, flexible barriers and rumble strips between Sunbury and Lancefield.
Seven new overtaking lanes will enable cars to pass one another safely, and the road shoulder will be widened and sealed. A roundabout will be built at the intersection of Gisborne Kilmore Road, in Monegeetta.
More than 150 crashes, including six fatalaties, have occurred on the road between June 2010 and June 2015, according to VicRoads.
“Melbourne-Lancefield Road is one of the state’s most dangerous roads,” Sunbury MP Josh Bull said. “We’re going to fix it.”
Ms Thomas said the installation of wire rope barriers down Melbourne-Lancefield Road would help prevent head-on crashes.
Work will start on the Lancefield to Monegeetta section in September. Upgrades from Monegeetta to Sunbury are expected to begin in November. The work is expected to take 12 months.
Details: engage.ssrip@roads.vic.gov.au.
