Western Highway Ballarat to Beaufort and Beaufort to Buangor

Update - October 2023

We’ve completed works to install safety barriers on 14 kilometres of the Western Freeway between Miners Rest and Woodmans Hill.

Safety barriers were installed on both the west and east bound lanes of the Western Freeway between Dowling Road and Lofven Street, Ballarat, to reduce the risk of head-on and run-off road crashes and improve safety for thousands of drivers each day.

The Western Freeway Safety Improvements – Woodmans Hill to Miners Rest project is delivered by the Department of Transport and Planning, in partnership with the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) and will help us continue to deliver a safer network for connected journeys to get Victorians home sooner and safer, while supporting economic recovery.

What we're doing

The Western Highway is one of Victoria’s highest-risk roads. To improve safety and reduce the risk of run-off-road and head-on crashes we’re installing more than 160 kilometres of left-hand side and centre median safety barriers between Ballarat and Beaufort and between Beaufort and Buangor.

These important works build on the extensive safety upgrades that have already been delivered on the Western Highway/Freeway between M80 Western Ring Road and Ballarat.

These safety upgrades are being delivered across two sections:

Buangor to Beaufort

Since mid-March 2021, crews have installed about 66 kilometres of safety barriers. Works began between McKinnon Lane and Ferntree Gully Road on the Western Highway.

Beaufort to Ballarat

Works began early-March 2021 to install about 100 kilometres of safety barriers between Beaufort and Ballarat, starting near the Ballarat Bypass at the intersection of Dowling Road, Miners Rest, and ending near the intersection of Beaufort-Carngham Road.

All works between Lake Burrumbeet (Remembrance Drive) and Buangor were completed in December 2021. These works improved safety at this location with the installation of 61.3km of flexible safety barrier and 17km of guardrail between Lake Burrumbeet (Remembrance Drive) and Beaufort; and the installation of 51.5km of flexible safety barrier and 14.6km of guardrail from Beaufort to Buangor.

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 on the road, it doesn’t cost a life.

We’re improving safety across Victoria to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads.

Infrastructure plays a vital role in preventing serious crashes. It also helps to reduce the severity of crashes when they’re unavoidable.

Road safety infrastructure such as flexible safety barriers, wide centreline treatments and rumble strips help prevent the most common crash types, head-on and run-off-road collisions, which in 2015 were responsible for 40% of Victoria’s road deaths and serious injuries

To learn more about how we’re making Victorian roads safer visit our interactive safer roads website. 

Background

The Western Highway is a high-speed, high-high volume road connecting Melbourne and Ballarat through to the South Australian border.

Being a major road link between Melbourne and Adelaide, farming, grain production, regional tourism and a range of manufacturing services rely heavily on this highway. More than 6000 vehicles travel the Western Highway west of Ballarat each day, including 1,500 trucks.

In recent years, between Ballarat and Stawell there has been more than 100 crashes and tragically 11 fatalities.

Upgrades to the Western Highway, Ballarat to Beaufort and Beaufort to Buangor, are being made thanks to the Australian Government’s $3 billion Road Safety Program in partnership with the Victorian Government’s Safer Roads program and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) as we continue to deliver safer, connected journeys in Victoria, while supporting our economic recovery.

This joint funded program is dedicating $245 million to support the fast roll-out of lifesaving road safety treatments on rural and regional roads and promotes greater protection for vulnerable road users, like cyclists and pedestrians.

The program builds on the Australian Government and Victorian Government’s existing funding and initiatives to improve road safety in Victoria, including $97.2 million through the Targeted Road Safety Works Program, as part of the infrastructure stimulus package announced in June 2020.

The Victorian Government also invested a record $1.4 billion, in partnership with TAC to reduce road trauma and save lives.

Other safety improvements  

There have already been significant upgrades made to the Western Highway/Freeway, including the installation of left-hand side and centre-median flexible safety barriers on the Western Highway/Freeway between M80 Western Ring Road and Ballarat.

Most recently, Major Road Project Victoria’s construction partner John Holland have completed pavement defect repairs along the westbound carriageway of the Western Highway between Burumbeet Road and Cockpit Lagoon Road.

Get in touch

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

Email: [email protected]