TWO highways across south-west Victoria are being upgraded to support the movement of freight.
Minister for roads and road safety Melissa Horne said crews will rebuild four sections of the Glenelg and Hamilton highways in the coming weeks.
The rural Glenelg Highway links Mount Gambier with Ballarat, and the Hamilton Highway runs from Hamilton to Geelong.
Work is already underway along the Glenelg Highway, according to the state government.
Other parts of the project include a 2.4-kilometre rehabilitation east of Hamilton and a 2.3-kilometre road rebuild between Casterton and Coleraine.
A road rebuilding project along a 3.5-kilometre section of road between Mortlake and Darlington on the Hamilton Highway is expected to be one of the largest rebuilds of the 2022-23 maintenance season.
The government also plans to rebuild a section of the Hamilton Highway at Hexham.
Further works to be delivered across the region by mid-2023 include major road maintenance projects on Henty Highway and Casterton-Penola Road.
Melissa Horne, minister for roads and road safety and minister for ports, said strengthening roads in the state’s south-west would improve connections for freight operators and local drivers.
“Our regional road maintenance blitz will ensure smoother, more reliable journeys along these major highways which serve as prime freight routes for the local dairy and timber industries,” she said.
Member for Western Victoria Gayle Tierney also welcomed the upgrade.
“The Glenelg and Hamilton highways are the lifeblood of the south-west, which is why these important works are underway to ensure the local community, farmers, freight operators and tourists can get to where they need to go.”
The highway upgrades are part of the state government’s $39 million “regional road maintenance blitz”, which includes 160 individual maintenance projects.
The blitz involves rebuilding, resurfacing and resealing more than 245 kilometres of roads.
