The wife of a man killed in a car smash on the Midland Highway late last year says she is glad the state government has “finally seen the light” and pledged to fix the danger intersection.
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Ararat resident David Ryan was heading east along the Western Freeway on November 6 when he attempted to take the Midland Highway exit to Ballarat before crashing into a northbound vehicle while merging.
On Thursday Roads Minister Luke Donnellan visited the intersection and pledged $2.5 million to develop a roundabout to untangle the complex intersection.
Mr Ryan’s wife Kym said while she was still waiting to see the detail of the proposal, “anything (was) better than people continuing to die”.
“My main concern is when you come over the bridge that intersection is right there,” Mrs Ryan said. “It’s a shocking intersection but I’m really glad they’ve finally seen the light.”
The roundabout will be built to the north of the bridge, which brings together eastbound drivers entering and exiting the Western Freeway as well as motorists travelling between Ballarat and Creswick.
The Transport Accident Commission-funded project form’s part of the government’s Towards Zero Action Plan and comes on top of a further $12 million upgrade along the Midland Highway between Creswick and Ballarat.
Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said “there’s too much activity here (and) too many options for people to do different turns and I think that provides confusion”.
“We need to deal with it and the roundabout was assessed by the TAC and VicRoads as the best option in this particular circumstance,” Mr Donnellan said.
VicRoads will now begin community consultation for how best to deliver the roundabout, with a goal of completing the project by mid-2019.
Information sessions will be held to provide further detail in coming months before the project gets underway in September.
VicRoads western region director Mal Kersting said a roundabout was the safest intersection treatment which could be applied at the site.
“We know how busy the Midland Highway is, we know how busy the Western Freeway is, this will really improve safety at this intersection but importantly this is part of a safety package that will provide improvements right through this corridor,” Mr Kersting said.
