TRAFFIC has begun to bypass Wodonga’s High Street with yesterday’s opening of the $1.4 million Smythe and Watson street extensions.
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The only outstanding job from the Junction Place project is landscaping, which is expected to be completed within the next couple of weeks.
That will bring to an end a four-month job described by mayor Mark Byatt as an extremely important part of infrastructure development on the old railway line corridor.
The new carriageways are expected to be used by up to 7800 cars a day by 2020.
Cr Byatt said Smythe and Watson streets were “an important flow-through” for the city’s north-south corridor.
“It’s of particular importance in starting to relieve the pressure off High Street.”
Cr Byatt said there was no doubt it might take a bit of time for people to get to know the new routes.
“Behavioural change is one of the most difficult things to foster within a community,” he said.
The works are part of a $26 million infrastructure program for central Wodonga, with residents facing a bill of just over $11.5 million.
It has been predicted, though, that this could generate private investment of up to $1 billion.
Cr Byatt said the cost of the project was being shared by Places Victoria, the council and the Department of Planning and Community Development.
Places Victoria revealed earlier this month it had begun negotiations with a preferred bidder for the entertainment and retail precinct in Junction Place.
The 2.39-hectare parcel is located between Watson, Smythe and South streets in the north-western corner behind Albury-Wodonga Community Health, First Choice and Aldi.
Cr Byatt said these latest road works largely completed a city bypass network that included the Bandiana link and the route from the Hume Freeway, along Melrose and Yarralumla drives and on to Baranduda.
“If you now need to come into the central business area and not do anything in High Street you’ve now got options to go north-south and east-west,” he said.
Cr Byatt said the next phase of straightening Elgin Boulevard — expected to start by the end of this year or early next year — was one of the first of three years of infrastructure projects that would cause disruption.
