News

Roads | August 29, 2019

Blue Ribbon Road upgrade too little too late

The decision by Labor to finally fund an upgrade of the Blue Ribbon Road north of Horsham is too little too late according to the Nationals Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy.

Ms Kealy and local Kalkee residents have repeatedly called on the Andrews Labor Government to upgrade the road after local residents observed significant deterioration of the road shoulders over the past 10 years.

“Our calls have fallen on deaf ears for too long and unfortunately it has taken a motor vehicle accident for Labor to commit to the upgrade works so desperately required,” Ms Kealy said.

Ms Kealy’s comments follow a truck and bus accident in early July which closed the Western Highway and resulted in traffic being diverted via the Blue Ribbon Road north of Horsham.

Highway traffic including up to 80 large trucks an hour were redirected along Blue Ribbon Road, an extremely narrow road with badly exposed road shoulders.

During the diversion and due to the terrible condition of the road a motor vehicle rolled over.

Fortunately no-one was seriously injured.

“It is unfortunate that it seems to take a serious motor vehicle accident for Labor to provide the funding required to properly maintain our local and regional roads that are used as detour routes,” Ms Kealy said.

“I am calling on the Andrews Labor Government to accept Regional Roads Victoria’s recommendation that $50 million be spent on upgrading our narrow roads to ensure they are safe for all road users.”