110 limit the way to go, says road expert
GEELONG motorists are relegated to the slow lane by VicRoads’ contradictory policies, John Lambert says, labelling the region’s highway limit of 100km/h as nonsensical.
The road safety expert said the Geelong Ring Rd and the Princes Highway between Waurn Ponds and Winchelsea should be set at 110km/h, given the roadways are some of the newest in Victoria.
It comes as VicRoads is set to review the limit between Werribee and Winchelsea, with findings due out within months.
Mr Lambert noted that Geelong Ring Rd was one of the few rural freeways of its kind in Victoria with a speed limit of 100km/h.
“The Ring Rd is one of the most modern freeways in Victoria,” he said. “The Princes Freeway from Geelong to Werribee is in far better condition than freeways to Ballarat and Bendigo. Yet those roads are set at 110km/h.
“The arguments put forward by VicRoads and the TAC against 110km/h to Geelong are contradictory. It’s argued that the three-lane Princes Freeway can’t be 110 but the Ring Rd and the highway out to Winchelsea is two-lane.”
VicRoads has previously ruled out increasing the speed limit on the newly duplicated highway between Waurn Ponds and Winchelsea due to several at-grade intersections.
But Mr Lambert said the Hume Freeway had many such rural road intersections and was set at 110km/h to the state border.
“The Waurn Ponds-Winchelsea section is only a few years old and was set at 100km/h. But a much older highway in the Mallee — twolane, two-way between Wycheproof and Irymple — is 110km/h,” he said.
‘There are some important questions over consistency here and the speed limit policy for Geelong has been totally inconsistent for years.”
In August last year, State Roads Minister Luke Donnellan commissioned a VicRoads review into highway speed limits between Werribee and Winchelsea.
“Increasing the speed limit on any of our roads is something we only do after careful consideration of all the potential impacts,” VicRoads acting regional director Emma Miller-Olsen said.
“Once flexible safety barriers are installed mid-year, we will complete a review of the speed limit between Werribee and Winchelsea.”
Opposition roads spokesman David Hodgett announced in February that the Coalition would raise the Prin- ces Freeway speed limit between Werribee and Corio if successful at the November state election. The Coalition is yet to commit to higher speed limit along the Ring Rd and out to Winchelsea, although Mr Hodgett said the policy may be extended in the future.
“A large portion of the Princes Freeway between Werribee and Winchelsea operates more like a metropolitan freeway because it has three lanes and much higher traffic volumes,” TAC road safety director Samantha Cockfield said.
“This adds to the complexity of lane changing manoeuvres and creates a far more hazardous environment for motorists.”