Pyrenees Shire to deliver more road network improvements in 2023

New bridges are being built on Raglan-Elmhurst Road and Beaufort-Carngham Road.

The works will be carried out by contractors, under the supervision of the shire's engineering team, will involve a $1.75 million investment

The funding will come from council and other sources including the Australian government's Bridges Renewal Program.

Pyrenees Shire mayor Councillor Ron Eason, said the new bridges will improve safety and increase the capacity of roads to carry heavy freight and oversized vehicles.

"Roads are the lifeblood of our community," Cr Eason said.

"The ability to safely transport people and freight on rural roads has a huge flow-on effect for our economy and the wellbeing of our community, particularly in rural and more remote areas."

Works are currently underway on bridge 139 on the Raglan-Elmhurst Road and are expected to be completed by late March.

Work on bridge 11 on the Beaufort-Carngham Road project will then start.

The new projects follow four major bridge replacements completed in 2022, including the new bridge on Carngham-Streatham Road, which reopened to traffic in November.

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Further major improvements to the road network are also underway, with a $500,000 upgrade to the Crowlands-Eversley Road set to begin this week.

A $720,000 upgrade to the Snake Valley-Smythesdale Road (between Hopes Lane and Burrumbeet-Hillcrest Road) will commence in late January.

Council is also working to prioritize work on the hundreds of road sites damaged in the floods of October and November 2022.

Sites that have been assessed as dangerous or that are restricting access to primary residences are being repaired first.

While the cost of repairs to flood-damaged road assets is expected to run to millions of dollars, Cr Eason said the quality of work undertaken following floods in 2016 and 2011 had paid dividends.

"Repairing our road infrastructure to modern engineering standards has made our network more resilient," Cr Eason said.

"We would have been in a much worse position after last year's floods if council had not made meeting these standards a priority."

Flood-related works are expected to take at least 12 months to complete.

"It's a huge job and there's a long way to go," Cr Eason said.

"Some interruption for road users is inevitable and we ask for patience as our crews and contractors get on with the job of repairing and improving our roads."

For more information on road and bridgeworks in the Pyrenees Shire, including details on road closures and detours, visit www.pyrenees.vic.gov.au/Community/Roads/Bridge-works-and-road-closures

Meanwhile, the state government is about to carry out a second round of major roadworks on some of Victoria's most badly flood-affected areas, targeting the state's north, west and south-west.

Roads which will undergo repairs include Elmore-Raywood Road, Bendigo-Pyramid Road, Mortlake-Ararat Road and Dimboola-Rainbow Road.

The second round of works follows the initial $89.8 million emergency repairs announced in December 2022, which has already delivered major repairs on the Hume, Western and Midland highways.

Currently, there are more than 370 roads, made up of a mix of arterial and local roads, that remain closed across the state.

Since October 2022, a crew of 500 workers have delivered repairs across Victoria - more than 120 kilometres of asphalting and rebuilding works have already been completed and a further 80 kilometres of work is currently underway.