Rifle Butts Road to be Upgraded

Rifle Butts Road to be Upgraded

Published on 27 May 2024

Upgrades to 6.2 km of Rifle Butts Road will address longstanding issues with dust, potholes and localised flooding, with Council awarding a $3.7 million construction contract this week.

Mayor Cr Steve Rabie said the project demonstrated Council's commitment to improving the Shire's infrastructure and working with residents to reach the best outcomes.

"With the Rifle Butts Road becoming busier, we're hearing increasing concerns from our community about the state of the road," said Cr Rabie.

"These upgrades will take it from basically a one-lane dirt road to a two-lane sealed road with more and larger culverts," he said.

Nearly 40 residents attended two consultation workshops with Council officers to contribute to the project's design.

Cr Rabie acknowledged the importance of mature trees and native vegetation to the residents as well as their ecological value.

"We've taken great care to minimise the impacts on native vegetation and habitats. By following the path of the existing road as it winds between mature trees, we've been able to retain as many of them as possible," he said.

"At the consultation workshops residents unanimously requested a reduction in the speed limit to 60km/h - Council is grateful to workshop attendees for their active contributions and feedback on the design for the upgraded road."

The project will be required to purchase native vegetation offsets.

"Thankfully, our Environmental Impact Assessment confirmed that there are no Threatened Ecological Communities in the area that would be affected, meaning we can build all proposed sections of road," said Cr Rabie.

To further reduce the environmental impact while keeping the road safe, retaining walls, barriers and concrete kerbs will be used to narrow the overall space taken up by the road compared with alternatives.

The project will also include widening the major culvert at the north end of Rifle Butts Road to accommodate the two lanes.

Residents will have an opportunity to hear more about the project's scope, avoidance and minimisation of ecological impacts, construction approach and timing at a Council-hosted meeting, planned for June 2024.

Works for the project may begin as early as July and are expected to take 6-7 months to complete.

The Rifle Butts Road upgrade project is part of the IMPACT Route (Integrating Mansfield's Productivity, Agricultural Communities and Tourism) project that is funded with $9.8 million from the Australian Government's Remote Roads Upgrade Pilot Program, as well as Council's $2.5 million contribution, which includes $1.3m of development contributions.

Council awarded the construction contract to Grampians Construction at the 21 May Council Meeting.

For any queries regarding the works, contact Council's Capital Works team at [email protected] or phone (03) 5775 8555.

Tagged as:

• Community
• Roads