Rutherglen bypass
Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:35): (767) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action that I seek is for the minister to provide details of what will happen with the remaining money allocated to the Rutherglen bypass study. This study, jointly funded by the Victorian and federal governments, was aimed at improving the safety of pedestrians and motorists on Main Street in Rutherglen, one of our major tourist and wine towns. The Commonwealth and state committed $1.93 million each in a funding announcement in 2017. That was the start of a process best described as shambolic. The study began with $4 million to examine the option for a bypass, got hijacked by the roads authority to be used for roadworks and at one stage looked at rerouting the traffic, both cars and B-doubles, away from Main Street and down a residential road past the town’s major sportsground and a unit block for the elderly. The community backlash to this was furious and understandable, and the government’s retreat was inevitable. Regional Roads Victoria then went weak at the knees and threw the Up River and Gooramadda roads into the planning mix. This was after they sat at kitchen tables along this route and told people the road was not wide enough, the bridges were too weak and the pavement was under strength. The project was then handballed between Indigo council, the community and Regional Roads Victoria. The last and possibly final iteration of the plan was a series of traffic treatments that only served to cut parking and push B-doubles closer to pedestrians. Not surprisingly, last November the federal government withdrew its support as part of the Commonwealth infrastructure investment program review.
The Rutherglen alternative truck route funding was and remains a line item in the rural and regional roads package in the 2023–24 Victorian budget, with $2.3 million unspent. In the Australian Financial Review of 17 November 2023 the Premier called for the federal contribution to these projects to remain in Victoria. The people of Rutherglen hoped that this same logic might apply within the state, with the state’s commitment to the north-east being invested into the same projects or supplementing road fixes. I note that the funding for the McKoy Street interchange was also withdrawn by the Commonwealth, and that included a $42 million commitment from the Victorian government. I understand the member for Benambra has also written to the minister seeking some assurances about the future of the unallocated state funding for the bypass study. The reality is that Main Street, Rutherglen, is still dangerous, with 500-plus trucks rumbling through its only shopping strip each day. The risk is further exacerbated by events like this weekend’s Tastes of Rutherglen, which will bring thousands of visitors to the region. What will happen to the unused funds from the Rutherglen bypass study?