THE drafting of the Environment Effects Statement (EES) relating to the future Beaufort bypass will be delayed until mid 2021.
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Regional Roads Victoria (RRV) has confirmed its investigations and future public exhibition of the EES is now not expected until next year.
The Beaufort Bypass is part of one of the state's biggest road projects, the Western Highway duplication between Ballarat and Stawell to which the federal government has committed $501 million and the state government $171 million.
About 6500 vehicles use the highway west of Ballarat every day, with 23,000 a day travelling between Melbourne and Ballarat.
Over the past six years there have been at least 92 crashes on the Western Highway between Ballarat and Stawell, including 10 fatalities and 50 serious injuries.
RRV said the amount of investigation required into the plan is taking "longer than expected".
"Our updated technical documents are submitted to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DEWLP)," it said.
"We are continuing to work with our Technical Reference Group (but) the large number of investigations are taking longer than originally anticipated so we've revised our timeline for our next steps."
RRV now plans to present its results at the end of this year, with a final draft of its environmental effects statement to be completed early in the new year and the results on display for public comment by the middle of 2021.
If a hearing is required, it is anticipated it will be held in the second half of next year.
Consultations with the community over the preferred route were held for the project in July and August last year.
For more, go to regionalroads.vic.gov.au.
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