Stagecoach Motel proprietor Russell Mackie said it would be devastating for his livelihood if the Melbourne Road freeway access was closed.

“I think it would eventually destroy it,” Mr Mackie said.

“A lot of business is the people who come off the exit and they’re going from Melbourne to Sydney and they say ‘I’ve been driving too long’ and they just pull in.

“We could get anywhere from two to 10 people a night turning in.

“If they exit at Melrose Drive and come in there they’re going to turn towards town.”

VicRoads flagged the plan at a drop-in session held in Wodonga in mid-November.

Mr Mackie said he only learnt of the plan via Facebook, two days after the session.

“I’m still walking around and there are businesses that have never heard of it,” he said.

Mr Mackie is holding a meeting from 6pm next Monday at Blacklocks Ford in Melbourne Road to gather support from other businesses that could be affected.

“Not one person is happy about it, pretty much most of the businesses along here think it will become a ghost town,” he said.

“It’s not good for Wodonga because it would be cutting off one of the main entrances.

“It’s not broken, so don’t fix it.”

Mr Mackie has invited VicRoads and Wodonga council representatives to attend as well as the member for Benambra Bill Tilley.

VicRoads plans at the November forum showed a map featuring a full interchange at Melrose Drive, which is currently only accessible by southbound traffic.

The government agency’s North East regional director Nicki Kyriakou told The Border Mail at the time the interchange and related closure of Melbourne Road access were subject to feedback.

“These are proposals only, with the feedback we’re getting from industry, council and the community we will be looking at changing and shaping them where it makes sense,” she said. 

The changes are being canvassed as part of $1 million in planning work for the future of the freeway from McKoy Street in the west to the Bandiana Link in the east.