Roadside graffiti, overgrown grass, and weeds are in the Victorian Government’s crosshairs, with the state set to undergo a big clean-up.
Victoria’s roadways are about to undergo a spring clean.
The State Government has allocated $5.5 million on what it’s calling a “major maintenance blitz” to help remove graffiti, grass, and weeds from Melbourne’s freeways.
Cleaning and inspections will be undertaken on Eastern Freeway, Monash Freeway, Westgate Freeway, Western Ring Road, and Frankston Freeway, as well as other busy and high-profile arterial roads.
An additional $2.5 million has been set aside for roadside grass slashing and weed spraying along hundreds of kilometres of highways across regional Victoria, following above-average rainfall across the state.
“As well as improving safety, capacity and connectivity across Victoria’s roads, we’re also investing in how our road network looks,” Minister for Roads and Road Safety Ben Carroll said at the announcement.
“Between now and mid-2023, everyone travelling on Victoria’s roads can expect to see our crews out in force, removing unsightly graffiti, grass and weeds across the network.”
However, despite the newly-announced “blitz”, the pledge represents less than a one per cent increase to the $780 million budget allocated to the rebuilding, repairing, and resurfacing of Victorian roads for the 2022/23 Financial Year.
According to Mr Carroll, the Victorian Government has rebuilt or resurfaced more than 12,000km of road, spending an average of $813 million annually on road maintenance.
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