Victoria’s most severely flood-damaged roads will undergo major rebuilding and repair works over the coming weeks.
Regional Roads Victoria has entered the next phase of a massive flood recovery program.
A program of larger-scale repairs will target those roads most affected by the floods, along with some of the region’s busiest and most important freight and travel routes according to Regional Director Hume, Steve Bowmaker.
“Our immediate response has focused on delivering short-term emergency repairs to get roads re-opened as soon as possible,” said Bowmaker.
“Now we’re turning our attention towards the first stage of longer-term, larger-scale repairs,” he said.
“Anyone who’s seen the damage inflicted on our roads first-hand knows that we have a lengthy recovery program ahead of us, and this is just the first step in that process.”
The $45 million program of works includes $8.6 million worth of work on the Hume Freeway, $8.4 million of repairs to the Goulburn Valley Freeway and $2 million of work on sections of Beechworth-Wodonga Road.
Other roads set to undergo repairs across the region include the Midland, Melba and Murray Valley highways.
“This first package of works is about repairing those roads that are unsafe in the wake of floods and keeping communities connected to vital supplies and services,” Bowmaker said.
Works to be delivered under this first package include major rebuilding and rehabilitation works, asphalt patching, structural repairs, clearing and fixing damaged roadside drains and culverts, stabilising landslips and clearing roadside debris.
Some of these repair works are already underway, while others will begin once warmer, drier weather provides more suitable conditions for rebuilding works.
The works are part of a $89.8 million state-wide program, which will repair and restore roads right across regional Victoria.
Some of the major roads set to undergo repairs across the state include sections of the Western Highway, Midland Highway, Princes Highway West, Stieglitz Road and the Great Alpine Road.
With more than 525 roads still closed across the state, crews will also continue to carry out daily inspections and deliver emergency repair works.
According to VicRoads, a team of more than 500 workers deployed across the state have patched more than 79,260 potholes and re-opened more than 860 flood-affected roads since 13 October.