$2.2 million worth of works expected for Princes Highway

Moyne Shire assets and contracts manager Steve Van Orsouw was asked for an update on the council's lobbying efforts to repair the stretch of road at the council's October meeting.

"The road isn't getting any better," said councillor Jordan Lockett.

Mr Van Orsouw said he and the council's chief executive officer Brett Davis met with the Department of Transport's Barwon South West manager recently.

"The department is very aware of the issues that our communities are dealing with on a daily basis," Mr Van Orsouw said.

The council representatives were advised that the Department of Transport's construction season starts in October.

"They've identified nine sites between Tower Hill and Port Fairy at a cost of around $2.2 million, which they've committed to undertaking in this construction season.

"This is pending on funding with their approved priority list but we had a pretty robust conversation with him and he's committed to getting those nine priority sites completed this construction season."

A state government spokesman said more than 160 individual maintenance projects would be delivered across the state's south-west as part of the state government's 2022/23 regional road maintenance blitz.

More than 245 kilometres of south-west roads will be rebuilt, resurfaced and resealed, he said.

This will include resurfacing of 35 kilometres of roads across the Moyne Shire, including the Princes Highway north-east of Port Fairy.

Last year it was revealed works on the "dilapidated and dangerous" Princes Highway between Warrnambool and Port Fairy had been funded.

The community lobbied the Victorian government for funding for 16 months after $60 million was committed by the federal government in the lead-up to the 2019 May election.

It was revealed the 20 per cent contribution sought from the state government has been secured and details are expected to be announced in the coming days.

At the time Princes Highway West Action Alliance spokesman Stephen Lucas said the money was "long overdue but welcome".

"It's taken years, we certainly hope works will start soon but the difficulty is we are reaching the end of the road construction period, we will wait to see what Rural Roads Victoria will be proposing in terms of a timetable," Mr Lucas said.

"We understand it will take some time to finish planning and drawing up contracts and suspect the majority of works won't be undertaken until next Spring."

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