We’re lucky in this part of the world that traffic problems are few and far between.
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The ease at which you can slip from one side of the Border to the other is just one of a host of reasons why Albury-Wodonga provides a better quality of living, in our humble opinion, than any of the capital cities in Australia.
Of course, it hasn’t always been perfect here, and the introduction of the internal bypass has made things considerably better in allowing traffic to move freely between the cities and keeping heavy vehicles away from the centre of town.
That you can now get from Thurgoona to Wodonga, and vice versa, in less than 15 minutes provides enormous flexibility for families in terms of where they choose to work and live.
That same 15-20km journey in Sydney or Melbourne could take you more than an hour, for some perspective on how good we have it.
Some would say the use of the term “congestion” to describe traffic build-up in Thurgoona at peak periods in the morning and afternoon is an overstatement but with the area identified as a growth corridor for Albury City, it’s wise to act now before a small problem becomes a bigger one for generations to come.
A new access point to the Hume Freeway and enhancements to the roundabout at the corner of Elizabeth Mitchell Drive and Thurgoona Drive will ensure the suburb remains a desirable place for people to live.
As Albury mayor Kevin Mack said: “we’ve got an opportunity to design this precinct and to do it well”.
Do sums on school funding
Almost $3 million in funding for North East schools is welcome news ahead of this year’s Victorian budget.
Planning for a new primary school in Leneva and $2.2 million for the Wangaratta District Specialist School and Appin Park Primary School were revealed by Northern Victoria MP Jaclyn Symes , who said: “Labor is getting on with rebuilding schools across our state”. They certainly are getting on with it – in Labor-held Ballarat in particular, with the gold-mining town on the receiving end of nearly $30 million on Friday.
If we’re to focus on the positives, at least we got 10 per cent of their share this time, compared to 2016 when $15 million to upgrade carriages on the North East line represented less than 3 per cent of the $518 million Ballarat received in the same budget.
