Uncertain plans for major road extension near Geelong leave residents confused
It's been a decade since the half-billion-dollar Geelong Ring Road was completed but plans to extend the road to connect to the Bellarine Peninsula have been put on ice. The Bellarine Link was supposed to take trucks out of Geelong's CBD and connect the fast-growing region. But without a clear timeline, local residents are left in the slow lane as they await answers.
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00:00For seven years, Sean Moran has been unsure whether a proposed road would cut his farm
00:07in half.
00:09Now close to retirement, his future looks uncertain.
00:12We've been left hanging, not knowing an answer.
00:16I'd really like some answers, but you can't find anyone that will give you any answers.
00:21If it goes ahead, the government would likely acquire Sean's property, with the preferred
00:26option for the road splitting his farm, while also affecting neighbouring properties.
00:32We're in limbo, we're just sort of pedalling up and down at the moment.
00:36You can't renovate a home, you can't develop your property any further than what it is,
00:40you could be just throwing money down the drain.
00:43It's part of the proposed Ballarine Link, which would connect the surf coast highway
00:47with Port Arlington Road, completing the Geelong Ring Road.
00:52Over 600,000 people in Geelong by 2050, so key infrastructure projects like this that
00:59have been identified, had the business case developed, that we know need to happen, we
01:04need to see those now invested in.
01:07The Geelong Ring Road was completed in 2014, with the Ballarine Link extension expected
01:13to follow.
01:14At least $4 million was allocated back in 2017 to planning, community consultations
01:21and technical investigations.
01:24But in an email to a resident seen by the ABC, a Department of Transport official said
01:29there was now no project team working on the link, and the timeline was unclear.
01:35The government has labelled the Ballarine Link a long-term project.
01:40The project is meant to ease traffic congestion, keep trucks like these out of the city, and
01:45better connect the greater Geelong region, providing critical infrastructure for the
01:50nearly 140,000 new homes expected here by 2051.
01:55But some doubt it will ever go ahead.
01:58This government have no intention of building this critical piece of infrastructure.
02:03It is a disgrace.
02:04It's a road and a community left up in the air.