Highway works to cost $35m

SOUTH Gippsland Shire Council was told last Wednesday the proposed realignment of the South Gippsland Highway, south of Korumburra, could cost around $35 million.
While the project is still in the planning stages, VicRoads planning team leader Chris Padovan told councillors broad estimates put the cost at around $35 million.
“It is not cheap,” he said.
“We still have a lot of planning and a lot of justification to prove to the government this is a viable project.”
In 2017, the State Government provided VicRoads with $300,000 to complete planning for the realignment project.
In the past five years, there have been 11 crashes in this location and 64 in the past 20 years. Three of those were fatal.
Around 8000 vehicles travel along the section of highway each day; 16 per cent of those are commercial vehicles.
VicRoads planning engineer Vu Tran said the history of the realignment went back to the early 2000s.
In 2001 and 2007, several options for the realignment were put forward to the community.
The community’s preferred route was adopted and in 2014, a planning acquisition overlay reserved the land needed for the future realignment.
“This section of road had a strong trend for runoff and head on collisions,” Mr Tran said.
Mr Padovan said the realignment would include the installation of wire rope safety barriers in the centre of the road and on the road sides, with a four metre shoulder.
While VicRoads has already met with key stakeholders on the project, there is still more consultation to be done.
“There is a lot of work to go on with. Design development needs more refinement and there will be further engagement with the broader community,” he said.
“We will do what we can to get the best outcome for the community.”
While the speed limit is expected to be increased back to 100km/h once the roadwork is complete, it will remain at 60km/hr until then.
Mr Tran said the reduced speed limit increased the travel time between Korumburra and Leongatha by around five minutes.
Cr Ray Argento was concerned about the impact of the realignment on access to properties along the highway near Korumburra South Road.
Mr Padovan said the centre wire barrier will include breaks to allow for right and left hand turns into and out of those properties.

Low down: VicRoads planning engineer Vu Tran and VicRoads planning team leader Chris Padovan presented an update on the realignment of the South Gippsland Highway south of Korumburra to South Gippsland Shire Council last Wednesday.

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Apr 24 2018. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry