By Ruza Zivkusic
THE first stage of the Deer Park Bypass work was inspected last week by local and state politicians.
The 9.3km project, running from east of Christies Rd in Ravenhall to west of Clarke Rd in Rockbank, is due for completion in 2009.
The Federal Government has provided $265 million and the Victorian Government $66 million towards the cost of the bypass.
Both Victorian Minister for Transport Peter Batchelor and Federal Minister the Arts and Sports Senator Rod Kemp, along with the Brimbank City Council and Melton Shire Council mayors, attended the inspection.
Mr Batchelor said the project was “desired to provide traffic relief” and to keep the free flow of freight.
“I’m really surprised how quickly they’ve got on the job here,” Mr Batchelor said. “They have tried to take the absolute advantage of the dry weather.”
The bypass will allow motorists to skip six sets of traffic lights and seven kilometres of speed restrictions.
Senator Kemp said the existing route was “reaching capacity”.
“Motorists can anticipate a 15-minute reduction in peak period travel times when the new road is built over the entire distance from the Western Highway at Caroline Springs to the Western Ring Road at Sunshine West,” Senator Kemp said.
Akron Roads Pty Ltd was assigned the task of building part of the Western Highway deviation.
Melton Shire mayor Chris Papas said the completion of the bypass would bring economic developments in the shire of Melton.
“It’s been a long time coming, we’ve lobbied very hard,” he said.
“There’s a huge vibe in the community now in relation to it, they see the works and the community knows that it’s going to be a lot quicker.”
