A DILAPIDATED stretch of the Henty Highway will be given a $4-million facelift.
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About 10 kilometres of the highway at Kewell, between Warracknabeal and Horsham, will be improved, with road shoulders widened across seven kilometres and pavement strengthened over an additional three kilometres.
Yellow 80 kilometre-an-hour recommended speed signs are in place along the stretch.
The Federal Government will contribute $3 million to the project, with the State Government providing $1 million.
The outcome of November’s State Election will have no bearing on the project, which is expected to start before Christmas.
Member for Mallee Andrew Broad said investment in roads was an election promise the government was now honouring.
He said the road carried about 1000 vehicles a day including 200 trucks.
Mr Broad said he had been lobbying the Treasurer to upgrade roads in the electorate.
“I keep on making the point to Joe Hockey that Mallee contributes $5.3 billion to the economy,” he said.
“In recognition of that we need to be able to use the road network to get our product to the export market.”
Independent Riders Group spokesman and long-time road improvement advocate Dale Maggs said the upgrade was long overdue.
“I see it as an election sweetener for constituents of the west who have been left high and dry for a long while,” he said.
“This is just a knee-jerk reaction.
“The government is getting on the election bandwagon pumping up its vote.”
Mr Maggs said most of the Wimmera’s roads had surface and edging degradation.
He suggested the government host community forums across the state to allow people to identify roads that should be upgraded.
“As a motorcycle rider, it needs to be better,” he said.
VicRoads maintenance team leader Daryl Sinclair said it was a fantastic project for the community’s road users.
“The shoulder widths vary as you go along, so we are picking the bits where they are narrow and causing the most safety problems,” he said.
“We are going to pick all those out and it will be a relatively consistent width.
“We will start the widening in one stage to get the works happening quicker and then we’ll do the rest of the work early next year.”
Mr Sinclair said there would be minor disruptions to road users during construction.
“There will be some roadwork speed limits while the work is going on and, as usual, we say to the public just be patient and obey the speed limits for the safety of the workers and themselves,” he said.
“Traffic will be able to go through at all times and we envisage that we’ll be closing one lane down at a time while we’re doing the shoulders.
“The other lane will be open and they’ll use signals to do one-way through at a time.
“It will work okay with this traffic volume, we won’t need any detours.”
He said the upgrade was due to be finished in April or May next year.