Wednesday, 19 March 2025

Yan Yean Road upgrade

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (19:47): (1534) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide a full timeline for the commencement and completion of each section of stage 2 of the Yan Yean Road upgrade and the funds allocated to each section, and to confirm the final design for the intersection with Bridge Inn Road. Residents of Doreen, Mernda and surrounding areas have been waiting a long time for Yan Yean Road to be fully upgraded, and now it seems that they will have to wait even longer for stage 2 of the upgrade after the Allan Labor government’s latest announcement. Labor promised to fast-track the project back in 2015, but here we are a decade later in 2025 and the upgrade is still stuck in the planning stages.

In the 10 years that local residents have been waiting for construction to start the condition of Yan Yean Road has degraded significantly. It is riddled with potholes that damage cars, and the single lanes are chronically congested every day. With each year that passes the need for this project becomes more urgent, but it is perpetually delayed by an incompetent Labor government that cannot deliver road projects on time or on budget. The latest announcement from Labor on the Big Build website says that the upgrade will now be done in sections. It does not say how many sections there are, but it does say they will start at the northern end with the intersection of Bridge Inn Road and Yan Yean Road. Locals are now genuinely concerned that parts of the upgrade will be pushed back indefinitely or, worse, never completed at all.

Residents are right to worry that building the road in sections is just an excuse to further delay the upgrade when Labor runs out of money after spending billions of dollars on the Suburban Rail Loop. The Labor government is once again using smoke and mirrors with this announcement. How many sections are there? The Big Build website does not say. How long will it take to finish? No-one knows. How much funding is required and available for each section? It is a mystery. Labor claims a preferred contractor has been selected to build the new intersection, but this is meaningless until a tender has actually been awarded and the contracts have been signed. The minister must give clarity to local businesses and residents by providing a full timeline for exactly when each section of the upgrade will start and finish. The government has not finished acquiring the land for the project and will not confirm if the intersection design has actually been finalised, so the promise to get construction started in 2025 is shaping up to be another broken Labor promise.

There is significant community opposition to the government’s preferred design for the intersection, which is the most expensive option and would make access to the Doreen business precinct more difficult, hurting local retailers. Both Nillumbik and Whittlesea councils have urged the government to instead go with option C. This project is now surrounded in doubts and uncertainty because of Labor’s delays and confusing messaging.