Thursday, 15 August 2019

In reply to  Mr QUILTY (Northern Victoria) (7 June 2019)

Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria—Minister for Roads, Minister for Road Safety and the TAC, Minister for Fishing and Boating):

I am incredibly proud of the investments the Andrews Government has made in regional Victoria. As the Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development and now Roads, I have worked as hard for regional Victorians as their metropolitan counterparts—as have my Cabinet colleagues.

In September 2018, the Labor Government launched Regional Roads Victoria (RRV), a new division of VicRoads to oversee a record $941 million investment in regional and rural roads. RRV manages more than 19,000 kilometres of road network across regional and rural Victoria and considers many factors when planning funding allocation including traffic volumes, safety and other competing priorities.

In May 2017, the Andrews Labor Government committed $3.8 million to complete planning activities on key infrastructure projects in Wallan including the Hume Freeway/Watson Street southern ramps and upgrades on Watson Street and Northern Highway.

RRV has undertaken extensive activities on these essential projects including community engagement and functional designs. I have directed RRV to complete business cases for these projects for future funding consideration.