Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my entire time in this place, I have been successfully advocating for a better, safer Princes Highway. The Princes Highway in Gippsland is the main transport arterial, and a safer road obviously reduces trauma. It also improves productivity for the transport sector. The major project has been the duplication, which has seen an additional 43 kilometres of dual-lane highway through the Gippsland region between Traralgon and Sale. We are finally in the home straight, after many years of work, with the final section at Kilmany well advanced.

The question then extends to: what's next in terms of major transport priorities in the region? What's next in Gippsland is the Traralgon bypass. It's an issue which has been talked about for more than 30 years while the congestion and the safety issues continue to increase within the township itself. With the livability and the amenity of Traralgon impacted for locals, it's now taking up to 20 minutes for passing traffic to travel through the town. The duplication work should be finished by the end of this year. I believe that the Traralgon bypass then becomes the highest priority transport project in eastern Victoria over the next five years. It's been identified as a future priority for local residents and for the transport sector. We need to work at state and federal level to get the final design work done, to get the costings done and to get on with the job of building the Traralgon bypass.