Lisa Dennis
Walmer’s notorious Fogartys Gap Road is one of 47 roads across the state to be upgraded thanks to an injection of funds from the federal government’s Black Spot Program.
Bendigo MP and Victorian Black Spot Consultative Panel chair, Lisa Chesters, visited Walmer on Friday to announce an allocation of $18.4 million to substantially improve 47 dangerous crash sites on Victorian roads in 2022–23.
Mount Alexander Shire Council will receive $1.2 million towards continuing its road widening improvement works in Fogartys Gap Road where three lives have been lost in recent years.
The latest funding will assist council to widen the road to include 1.5-metre-wide sealed shoulders, improve delineation, extend culverts with trafficable end walls and remove roadside hazards, particularly nearby the intersection of Fogartys Gap and Woodbrook Roads.
Mount Alexander Shire councillors Rosie Annear and Stephen Gardner were on site Friday to welcome the announcement.
“This is something we have been working towards for about five years. The project got as far as it could and was just waiting for the injection of federal funds,” Cr Gardner said.
“We are grateful to Lisa for her support in making this funding possible. We have the contractors ready to go and can’t wait to see this important project completed.”
Ms Chesters said the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics had found that Black Spot projects reduced the number of crashes causing death and injury by 30 per cent on average.
She said the panel also had the Fogartys Gap Road-Calder Freeway intersection – where a further four people had lost their lives – on its radar for future works.
