Works on the Ballarat Link Road second stage will need a huge state or federal government investment before they can go ahead.
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Ballarat City Council needs $40 million to complete the second stage of the project between Remembrance Drive and the Glenelg Highway.
This includes $6 million of land acquisition on the route.
A highway at the edge of the city’s west will help reduce the large numbers of trucks currently using roads through the central business district.
It will also increase the productivity of the Ballarat West Employment Zone and provide better access for freight.
The Ballarat Link Road project’s first stage will be finished by mid-next year.
Construction firm Winslow has so far completed earthworks between the Western Highway and the Remembrance Drive and Dyson Drive intersection.
Construction of a bridge across the rail line is also well underway, with beams lifted into place on Saturday night.
Winslow project manager Richard Harpley said the expectation was the entirety of stage one would open on time.
“Earthworks on the south end have been dependent on the weather,” he said.
“As better weather comes we can move into more and more works.”
The construction has employed between 20 and 25 people since it started in February.
A Ballarat City Council media release said there were measurable benefits to building the road all the way to the Glenelg Highway.
This included a 10 per cent reduction in travel times at Ballarat West.
There would also be a 10 per cent increase in vehicles able to access the area.
The rail bridge has also been built to accommodate a large amount of freight moving through Ballarat.
It is wide enough for to existing broad gauge tracks, two future standard gauge tracks and allows for the provision of the Ballarat-Skipton Rail Trail.
The Bridge is about 27m in length and 7.1m high.
Other key statistics in the plan included;
- Support a 20 per cent population increase.
- Reduce the Ballarat CBD truck volumes by 20 per cent.
- Reduce crashes in the CBD by 20 per cent.
- Increase output of freight logistics by 10 per cent.
- Increase Ballarat West activity by 10 per cent.
Council wants the funding for the next stage approved by May next year.
It would be followed by detailed design and early works to be finished 2018 and 2019, with construction to start on the project by 2020.
Council hopes to finish the entire Ballarat Link Road project to the Glenelg Highway by 2021.