A FUNDING call for a local arterial road has not only been successful in its application, but has secured an additional $5 million investment.
Six months after Mitchell Shire Council (MSC) submitted their $40 million funding application to upgrade and seal Old Sydney Road, the Federal Government has announced it will contribute $45 million to the project as part of their $1.2 billion suburban road blitz.
Warmly welcomed by councillors, residents, and commuters alike, the funding will allow the 5.57km stretch of Old Sydney Road between the Mitchell/Hume boundary and Camerons Lane in Beveridge to be sealed, ensuring a smoother, more reliable, and, most importantly, safer journey for all drivers.
The danger of the unsealed road became increasingly apparent last December when it was used as an unofficial traffic detour during wet and stormy conditions, causing a truck to become bogged and further exacerbating delays.
Member for McEwen Rob Mitchell, who has been instrumental in seeking the project’s approval, noted that the incident provided ‘the perfect storm’ to fuel action.
“We had the perfect storm with the truck fire that day—a truck fire on the Hume Freeway, traffic was diverted down to Merriang Road, which is not designed to carry B-doubles and buses and that sort of thing,” he said.
“We had a massive downpour that caused that road to break up, and with the Hume Freeway blocked, Google decided to tell people in their B-doubles to go onto Old Sydney Road, which is a dirt road, and a truck got bogged.
“You could not ask for a more perfect storm to happen to show the issues that we had.”
The funding announcement also included news that the Federal Government will sink a further $990 million into two interchange projects in the shire, in addition to their statewide $3.3 billion plus investment into new road and rail projects.
Receiving the largest investment of the two projects is Camerons Lane Interchange, which will receive $900 million, with design and planning set to begin this year.
Meanwhile, the Watson Street Interchange, whose business case and planning are now complete, will receive $90 million from the Federal Government, while the State Government will invest a further $80 million into the project.
MSC Mayor Councillor John Dougall thanked Member for McEwen Rob Mitchell and the Federal Government for realising the priority of the Old Sydney Road project and approving its funding application.
“Council and … [Mr] Mitchell have been strongly advocating for the appropriate funding for this key infrastructure priority, and we are pleased the Federal Government has committed $45 million to support this critical upgrade,” he said.
“We have worked very closely with them for a period of time, and we’ve identified this as a really important north-south road that will service our southern community in Beveridge.
“We’re very excited, we think it’s very important, but this announcement comes after a lot of advocacy work, and a lot of effort to make sure that transformative and large-scale projects are what get to the top and get supported.
“Completion of this project will be a massive step forward for Mitchell Shire … It is fantastic to be able to address this long-standing community need.
“As we embark on the Old Sydney Road improvements, we eagerly anticipate further announcements from the State Government, and the commencement of works on the Watson Street and Camerons Lane projects.”
Council will now begin planning the delivery of the upgrade to Old Sydney Road, and will keep the community informed as works progress.
