The Victorian Government has begun work on a $37 million safety upgrade of the Western Freeway between Western Ring Road and Ballarat.
Rope barriers are being installed to prevent dangerous and deadly crashes. Last year, the current existing rope barriers were hit 147 times, preventing potential crashes.
The safety upgrades on Victoria’s regional roads are aimed at decreasing the number of lives lost on the road.
According to the State Government, Victorians are five times more likely to have an accident on rural roads than the city, which has spurred investment in safety measures like flexible safety barriers, rumble strip line-marking, and overtaking lanes on the states high-risk roads.
The State Government has also doubled VicRoads road maintenance budget with a $556 package announced in last year’s budget.
“We’re installing these barriers because they are proven to save lives – it’s simple as that,” Minister for Roads and Roads Safety Luke Donnellan said.
“We’ve doubled our investment in road maintenance since coming to office – this year VicRoads is doing more maintenance work than it’s done in decades.”