Instead, Regional Roads Victoria worked with Goulburn Valley Environment Group, Sheep Pen Creek Landcare and Greater Shepparton City Council to reduce this toll to one.
Regional Roads Victoria director of safer roads, Scott Lawrence, said they were rolling out a major road safety upgrade on the Midland Hwy between Shepparton and Cosgrove to prevent run-off road and head-on crashes.
“We know this area provides vital habitat for the endangered swift parrot and squirrel glider so it was important to strike a balance between increasing road safety and considering the surrounding environment,” Mr Lawrence said.
“We were really pleased to work closely with local community groups and council, which ultimately helped us retain numerous native yellow and grey box trees.”
The upgrade includes widening and sealing road shoulders and installing flexible safety barriers along the roadside and centre line of 11.6 km of the highway, to prevent head-on and run-off road crashes.
“We’re also constructing pull-over bays and an overtaking lane in each direction to provide safer overtaking opportunities, and installing rumble strip line marking to alert drivers who accidentally veer from their lane,” Mr Lawrence said.
During the early design phase, RRV estimated up to 250 trees may need to be removed.
RRV then worked with the community to refine and finalise the design, retaining large yellow box and grey box trees that provide habitat for the swift parrot and squirrel glider.
The design improvements deliver road safety outcomes while reducing the number of trees requiring removal from 250 large trees to one.
The upgrade will significantly increase safety after five crashes were recorded on this stretch of the highway between 2013 and 2017, resulting in one person dying and seven people being seriously injured.
Shanelle Crole
14°C