Fear road could become pseudo link for bypass

Andrew Mathieson
A GEELONG councillor has urged federal and state governments to fund the final link in Geelong’s bypass project to prevent a traffic surge on Mt Duneed Road.
Council finance portfolio-holder Andrew Katos said he feared the rural road would become a “pseudo” connection to the Great Ocean Road and Bellarine Peninsula without the proposed Surf Coast Highway link.
Cr Katos announced last week that Geelong and Surf Coast Shire councils would make a joint application to State Government for funding to upgrade Mt Duneed Road.
“We will apply for full funding to upgrade a road that is affected by a state project,” Cr Katos said.
He believed that Mount Duneed residents were justified to fear more traffic near their homes from the bypass.
But they did not want the councils’ upgrade to rule out the Surf Coast Highway link, he said.
“I know that the Mt Duneed residents and the action group welcome the funding but their fear is it will be made the link and stage 4c (the Surf Coast Highway link) won’t receive funding. That’s what they are very mindful of and so am I,” Cr Katos said.
He believed a major upgrade of Mt Duneed Road was necessary regardless of the threat of additional traffic from the bypass.
“It is very undulating and the shoulders on the road are pretty ordinary,” Cr Katos said.
Cr Katos said stage 4c was just “a line on a map at the moment”, with state and federal governments yet to commit funding.
Member for Corangamite Darren Cheeseman said Federal Government was still involved in preliminary planning for the Surf Coast link.
However, he said the link was still a “fair bit down the track”.
A connection to the Surf Coast Highway was “likely” to run across Mt Duneed Road, he said.
Mr Cheeseman said work on a bypass link to Anglesea Road and its connection to the Princes Highway would start within the financial year.
He said $62.5 million allocated in the federal budget to kick start stage 4a (the Anglesea Road link) was already “ahead of the game”.