The state opposition has announced it will remove 55 troublesome intersections in Melbourne and Geelong, if it wins next year’s Victorian election.
The Liberal party has announced 35 of the traffic hotspots it plans to upgrade, including Point Cook Road and Princes Highway, Point Cook.
Elsewhere in the west, intersections in Sunshine, Footscray and West Footscray are listed for removal.
The Liberal candidate for Tarneit, Glenn Goodfellow, said the remaining 20 intersections would be decided upon after community consultation.
The opposition said between $4.1 billion to $5.3 billion would be spent on the project.
Underpasses will be the preferred upgrade for most of the intersections, with the final designs to depend on feedback from engineers, councils and the public.
Mr Goodfellow described the plan as “the biggest traffic congestion-busting project in Victoria’s history.”
But the Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan hit back at the announcement.
“You can’t trust the Liberals to build anything,” he said.
“They did nothing for four years – no major road projects, no investment in maintenance – traffic backed up across the state while the Liberals sat on their hands,” Mr Donnellan said. “While the Liberals talk about infrastructure, we’re building it.
“We built on and off ramps at Sneydes Road on the Princes Highway, to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow in Point Cook.”
Mr Donnellan said the state government had also provided VicRoads with $250,000 to develop a business case to improve traffic flow and safety on Point Cook Road.
As well, he pointed to the $1.8 billion package of road upgrades planned for the outer western suburbs, which will widen Dunnings and Palmers Roads from Point Cook Road to the Princes Freeway.
Several sections of other Wyndham roads will be duplicated between next year and 2022, including Derrimut Road between Sayers and Dohertys Roads.
