With Ballarat's GovHub approaching completion, welcome news about Armstrong Street North reopening to north-bound traffic has finally arrived.
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The street was closed in January 2019, as early works and demolitions began.
According to a state government spokesperson, the street will reopen from Saturday, April 17.
As well as two half-hour car parks for VicRoads customers, two new disability car parks and 12 new metered car parks have been constructed.
A zebra crossing, connecting the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative and its new medical centre to the Ballarat Library across Armstrong Street and underneath the new building itself, has also been installed.
While an opening date for GovHub has not yet been set, VicRoads has already announced some of its customer service operations will begin on May 10 - everything except vehicle inspections and licence testing will now be available at GovHub, with those two services available at the Wendouree office.
The $100 million GovHub project will bring in seven state government agencies, including VicRoads, the Department of Education and Training, the State Revenue Office, the Department of Justice, Consumer Affairs Victoria, Service Victoria, and Regional Development Victoria.
Initially advertised as having capacity for 1000 workers, and creating hundreds of jobs for locals and bringing more from Melbourne, the final numbers have not yet been released.
The reopening of Armstrong Street North will also be a major step in reconnecting the CBD - at time of writing, residents aiming to get to northern suburbs from the CBD are blocked at Armstrong Street with GovHub construction works, and at Lydiard Street, where the destruction of the level crossing gates has left the road closed in both directions.
Soon Peel Street will also be closed as progressive works on the Ballarat Sewer Build begin.
There is no word yet on when Lydiard Street will reopen - the state government has repeatedly labelled the problem as "complex", with heritage and safety reports required.
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Engineers on the Sewer Build are aiming to close Peel Street in stages to allow traffic to continue flowing past retail areas already hit hard by the pandemic, and will use microtunnelling to get under busy Mair Street.
The state government noted GovHub is part of the $138 million "transformation" of Mair and Armstrong streets, which has also included streetscape works, resurfacing, additional turning lanes, and a set of pedestrian-activated traffic lights at Davies Street, though bike lanes were removed from the project.
Median car parks between Armstrong and Lydiard streets will soon be removed as part of federal government Black Spot funding for additional lanes.
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