Towong Shire residents have welcomed the beginning of long-awaited works to a dangerous road used as a key route for the logging industry.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Shelley-Walwa Road will be closed for approximately 12 months as a seven-kilometre stretch between Guys Forest Road and the Murray Valley Highway is sealed.
While most of the road is asphalt, this particular section is not and becomes dangerous in wet weather.
Walwa Primary School Council president Hayden Drummond said many residents avoided using the road.
“It’s been completely closed for periods of time over the last couple years,” he said.
“One of our teachers lives at Koetong and she’s had a hard time getting to school without getting killed or bogged.
“The other problem has been for the people that live at the bottom of the road – the dust is unbelievable and it’s almost like a fog during summer.”
Mr Drummond said residents had waited a long time for the works to begin – a government update from November 2016 anticipated a completion in mid-2018.
“It was announced about three times, so we started giving up towards the end, which is why I went to see (Member for Benambra) Bill Tilley as recent as December,” he said.
“We didn’t have a lot of faith in it happening.”
On Tuesday a joint media release announced the beginning of the works and that community information sessions would be held on Wednesday.
Mr Tilley said it was “simply not good enough” the wider community was given a day’s notice about the sessions.
“We understand that there were some letterbox drops in Walwa and a note sent to the Corryong Neighbourhood Centre, but this demanded greater attention,” he said.
“This is a hugely significant project to this part of the world, personally I have been working on this with the community, council and Hancock Victoria Plantations for years, and the dissemination of information to the wider community was a must.
“There were no public notices in The Border Mail last weekend, nor in the Corryong Courier and as far as I can determine there was nothing on the VicRoads Facebook page.”
Towong Mayor Aaron Scales attended the session and said questions were mainly about access during construction.
“There are four to six houses on the road that will be directly impacted,” he said.
“Locals will have access to the road, there will be traffic management on site, and VicRoads will provide a number for residents and emergency services to contact.
“They will be talking with HVP on Thursday regarding when logging trucks are running, and there will be detours in place.
“There was some comments that with diversions there may be damage done to shire roads and we will work with VicRoads to sort those issues out.
“The shire is very excited about it going ahead and it goes to show what can be achieved when you form partnerships.”
The Australian and Victorian governments have each given $3.7 million to the project, Towong Council has given $100,000 and HVP Plantations is supplying crushed rock.
VicRoads and the Victorian Roads Minister were contacted for comment.