Great Alpine Road Bruthen to Cobungra safety improvements

Update – August 2024

Safety improvement works on the Great Alpine Road between Bruthen and Cobungra are expected to start mid-August 2024 and be completed by mid-2025, weather permitting.

The safety improvements include:

• shoulder construction and sealing
• pavement repairs
• upgrading existing safety barriers and installing new barriers, and
• line marking improvements and installing guideposts to improve lane visibility.

Traffic impacts

We understand roadworks can be disruptive and have made every effort to minimise the impact to road users.

Traffic management will be in place, with at times to allow road users to safely navigate the area whilst works are being undertaken.

Please look out for changed traffic conditions and allow extra time for your journey.

We will provide advance notice on any further traffic changes as the project progresses.

Thank you for your patience as we deliver this important safety project.

Benefits

The safety improvements between Bruthen and Cobungra will improve safety by:

• providing smoother and more reliable journeys
• reducing the likelihood of crashes
• helping drivers stay in control if their vehicle leaves the road, and
• improving traction and reducing debris on the road.

Overview

The Australian and Victorian Governments are investing $8.06 million through the 2023-25 Road Safety Program to improve safety and efficiency along the Great Alpine Road between Bruthen and Cobungra.

The Great Alpine Road runs from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, passing through the Victorian Alps.

It is an important route for agriculture, timber and tourism, and is one of the two ‘Great’ tourist routes in Victoria, the other being the Great Ocean Road.

The road is an important link for communities in the state’s north-east and a key connection for the tens of thousands of tourists who visit Victoria’s alpine region each year.

This stretch of road between Bruthen to Cobungra has narrow lanes and tight bends.

From 2015 to 2024, there were 71 crashes on the Great Alpine Road between Bruthen and Cobungra, resulting in 44 serious injuries and three people tragically losing their lives.

These critical works will improve safety and efficiency for local communities, industries and tourists.

Infrastructure plays a vital role in preventing serious crashes. It also helps reduce the severity of crashes should a crash occur.

Mistakes happen, which as humans we can’t always avoid. What we can do is build more forgiving road infrastructure so that when a mistake does happen it doesn’t cost a life.

Get in touch

For more information about this project, please get in touch:

Email: [email protected]

Call:    133 778

Write: Department of Transport and Planning, PO Box 158, Traralgon 3844