Major road overhaul pledge

Cranbourne MP Jude Perera, Labor candidate for Cranbourne Pauline Richards and Premier Daniel Andrews announced the major upgrades to roads. Picture: CONTRIBUTED

Locals will benefit from a safer and less congested Hall Road and Western Port Highway, with two new major upgrades if the Andrews Labor Government is re-elected.

The $169 million Hall Road investment will see major improvements for local families, including duplicating 5.2 kilometres from McCormicks Road to Cranbourne-Frankston Road, doubling the existing two lanes to four.

The project will also see construction of new traffic lights at the intersections of McCormicks Road, Taylors Road, Western Port Highway and Evans Road, and an upgrade of the intersection at Cranbourne-Frankston Road, helping to address what the Frankston Standard Leader has dubbed a “notorious bottleneck”.

Benefiting local pedestrians and cyclists, the investment will also see new shared paths on both sides of Hall Road, as well as the installation of new street lighting, safety barriers, road signage and landscaping.

A re-elected Labor Government will also invest $54.3 million to remove two congested roundabouts at Ballarto Road and Cranbourne-Frankston Road on the Western Port Highway and replace them with new traffic lights.

Planning and pre-construction work on both projects will begin in 2019, with major works kickstarting in 2020. Upgrades to the Western Port Highway will be finished by 2022, while Hall Road will be complete by 2023.

The announcement comes as the State Government has made massive investments to ease local congestion, including widening Thompsons Road with more than 10 kilometres of new lanes, the removal of the level crossing near Merinda Park Station, duplicating Lathams Road and building the Mordialloc Freeway.

Premier Daniel Andrews said fixing the notorious bottlenecks “will end that constant frustration that local families know all too well.”

Cranbourne MP Jude Perera said: “When it comes to delivering an upgraded Hall Road and Western Port Highway, only Labor has the track-record that locals can rely on.”

Shadow Minister for Roads, David Hodgett said Daniel Andrews had “lost control” of traffic congestion.

“While Daniel Andrews want to build more traffic lights, the Liberal Nationals want to remove them and create free flowing intersections,” he said.

“Only the Liberal Nationals have a plan to remove 55 of Melbourne and Geelong’s most congested intersections including at Hall Road and Western Port Hwy, Thompsons Road and Western Port Hwy and Frankston-Dandenong Road and Thompsons Road.

“The choice is clear, out of control traffic congestion and more time stuck at traffic lights under Daniel Andrews, or a Matthew Guy government that will take back control and get Victoria moving,” Mr Hodgett said.