Western Victoria Region
Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (13:01): (1056) My question for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety concerns the vital need to declare and duplicate Ferris Road in Melton between Bridge Road and the Western Freeway. The current short-sighted plan for a single-lane bridge over the rail corridor and the Western Freeway is already hopelessly outdated. Cobblebank is growing rapidly, with annual percentage increases into double digits. The population will triple in just 10 years. With the new town centre including a train station, a stadium, a shopping centre, a business hub and a planned new TAFE as well as a long-promised new hospital, journeys will increase enormously. Failure to futureproof the development will increase congestion, reduce safety, cut productivity and slow economic growth. Minister, will you work with ministerial colleagues to reconsider the single-lane bridge, declare the road an arterial route and commit to providing the infrastructure Melton actually needs instead of the costly Suburban Rail Loop white elephant which will do nothing for the western suburbs?