By Natasha Fujimoto
IMPERATIVE to strengthening Greater Shepparton’s flood resilience, improving freight efficiency and alleviating heavy traffic congestion across the Peter Ross-Edwards Causeway, the long-sought second Goulburn River crossing received a fresh election commitment on Wednesday, October 14.
The Victorian Nationals and Liberals pledged $25 million towards progressing the project if elected in November, as part of the Coalition’s Fair Share Guarantee.
Nationals leader and Shadow Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Danny O’Brien, announced the commitment alongside Nationals candidate for Shepparton Shane Sali, Liberal Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell, Member for Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe and Goulburn Valley Highway Shepparton Bypass Action Group president Peter Johnson OAM.
Mr O’Brien said the funding would pay for further engineering, planning and design work needed to advance the project and eventually seek renewed Commonwealth investment.
“We will put $25 million on the table to get that further engineering, design and plans done to make sure that we actually get this up and ready to go,” he said.
The announcement comes after a $208 million previously committed by the former federal coalition government was withdrawn and cancelled by the federal Labor Government in 2023.
Mr O’Brien said the project needed to return to the planning stage before further federal funding could be sought.
“We need to go back a step to make sure that we’ve got the planning money, that we’ve got the planning designs, everything ready to go,” he said.
If elected on November 28, Mr O’Brien said the commitment would be included in the Coalition’s first budget and the federal government would be approached to support the project.
Following Mr O’ Brien to the microphone, Mr Sali, who has been a strong and consistent advocate for the second river crossing and broader Shepparton Bypass project during his consecutive mayoral terms, said making the project a state priority was key to its delivery.
“The only way we can deliver this project is if it becomes a state priority project for Victoria.
“We are a freight and logistics hub, and a second river crossing built above flood level to carry our heavy vehicles out of the CBD is how you move freight efficiently and effectively across the state.
“When we were cut off during the ’22 floods, that didn’t just impact our freight and logistics; it impacted our community, our health professionals and emergency services.”
He said about 35,000 vehicles used the existing causeway each day, including about 3,500 heavy vehicles, while the 2022 floods demonstrated the consequences of losing the Shepparton – Mooroopna connection.
Long-time Goulburn Valley Highway Shepparton Bypass Action Group chair, Peter Johnson OAM, described the commitment as the “correct starting point” after decades of advocacy.
In a subsequent interview, Mr Johnson clarified that the $25 million was important because extensive preparatory work would be needed before the project could be put through the process for Commonwealth consideration.
“You’ve got to have all the data, all the calculations, all the costings, everything of that nature,” he said.
Previous planning work included a $10 million business case Mr Johnson said, but he questioned how detailed its design and costing work had been and said the information had not been made publicly available.
Despite the renewed political commitment, Mr Johnson said construction would not be immediate estimating it could take three to four years, even if the project progressed smoothly, to complete the substantial preparatory and approval work required before construction could begin.
“I would think you’d say three to four years from this point. If it all went well, get it started,” he said.
But after 25 years of campaigning, Mr Johnson said giving the crossing priority status and funding the next stage represented a crucial step towards finally advancing the project.
