The Western Highway is the busiest national undivided highway in Australia.
With upgrades already complete between Ballarat and Buangor, we are now in planning to upgrade the 12 kilometres of Western Highway between Buangor and Ararat.
This stretch of busy highway is currently one lane in each direction, impacting journey reliability and providing fewer opportunities to safely overtake.
As the number of vehicles travelling along this section of the highway has significantly increased, so too has the crash rate, with more than 170 crashes and over 20 fatalities on the Western Highway between Ballarat and Stawell in recent years. Upgrading this section of the Western Highway will make it safer for the many road users who rely on this highway, including freight, farming, grain production and tourism.
As part of the upgrade between Buangor and Ararat, we will:
add an extra lane in each direction to provide safer overtaking opportunities and improve journey reliability
add a centre median that will separate carriageways, reducing the likelihood of vehicles accidentally veering into oncoming traffic
install barriers to reduce the risk of head-on collisions
build a new interchange at Hillside Road to make it easier and safer for vehicles to enter and exit the Western Highway
build new bridges over the railway line and the Hopkins River.
Design
We’re now moving forward with an updated design for the Upgrade.
The improved design delivers a safer, more efficient Western Highway while reducing the impact on Aboriginal cultural heritage and the environment.
A key change includes shifting the new highway alignment slightly south at Pope Road and Warrayatkin Road.
Following extensive work with the Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP), including critical input into the revised design, the project now has an approved Cultural Heritage Management Plan (CHMP).
Work has also been done to update other key planning and environmental approvals, which have been submitted to the relevant State and Federal departments for consideration.
Next steps
With our new design and project approvals underway, we'll soon begin working with our construction partner to develop our construction plans. Once we have those planning approvals in place, we'll mobilise our work crew.
We’ll keep the community updated as we move towards getting back to work on this important upgrade.
Moving toward construction
Design
Cultural heritage management plan
Planning scheme amendment
Environmental approvals submitted
Detailed construction plan
Mobilise crew
Begin early works
Start major construction
More information about this section of the Western Highway project can be found in the FAQs below.
Design