HORSHAM Rural City Council will complete an integrated transport strategy for the city in three stages.
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The project will examine congestion issues in and near the city centre, connections to residential growth areas, and how a proposed Horsham bypass will affect links to regional highways.
The work comes after an independent panel for a proposed Horsham bypass recommended an amendment for the project be deferred until council could complete the transport plan.
Council’s submission to VicRoads about the bypass project indicated the bypass route should take into account connections to major roads such as the Wimmera and Henty highways.
Councillors have endorsed a consultant’s brief for transport study that outlines consultation plans and steering and stakeholder groups for the project.
Cr David Grimble will lead both groups.
The project’s first stage will focus on bypass-related issues. Stages two and three will look at the Horsham central business district and growth areas, and broader municipality issues respectively.
Cr Grimble said he was pleased the bypass panel saw the need for the study before a bypass route was chosen.
He presented a motion to council last year that council oppose bypass option D until further work was completed.
“Even though it might not necessarily reflect if the bypass is fatal or not, what we need to do is understand some of the other connectivity that the other highways present in relation to the bypass,” he said.
“When you look at Horsham, we’re dissected by a number of highways on every point of the compass.
“I’m not being critical of VicRoads, but the scope of the works on Western Highway realignment doesn’t necessarily pick up the broader conversation that we need to have about what the other highway connections might mean.
“I encourage community representation on these groups to work with a very unbiased and broad-thinking view.
“What we’re definitely not looking for is another 20:40 vision, and we’re not trying to reground through some of the work that’s already been done in some of the bypass studies.”
Council has called for nominations for community representatives for the steering and stakeholder groups to help guide the project and comment on the issues, concepts and draft plans that will be developed.
