WHITTLESEA City Council is seeking a $110 million Hume Freeway interchange at Epping as part of a bid for more than $200 million in federal infrastructure funding in Melbourne’s north.
Whittlesea joined six other councils representing Melbourne’s north to lobby federal ministerial advisers to fund 14 local infrastructure projects in the federal budget.
Whittlesea wants an interchange on the Hume at O’Herns Road to allow traffic to leave the freeway.
Whittlesea manager for advocacy and communications, Griff Davis, estimated the interchange would cost about $110 million and was the most expensive project on the wish list.
A smaller $65 million proposal would have involved building off-ramps on the southbound side. Hume Freeway goes over O’Herns Road as an overpass.
Federal ministerial advisers told the delegation the Gillard government would consider funding a full interchange, Mr Davis said. The interchange would give trucks better access to the new Epping wholesale fruit and vegetable markets, he said.
The council was calling on the federal and state governments to jointly fund the project, as Whittlesea already had a “backlog” of community infrastructure and local roads to fund.
“Of all the projects, my view is that it seemed to be of more interest,” Mr Davis said.
Banyule mayor Tom Melican said the delegation was warned the Gillard government’s 2012-13 budget would be “very tight”.
Cr Melican said it was unlikely all 14 projects would be funded. “In the current economic climate, and with the federal government committed to bringing the budget into surplus, there won’t be a lot of money to go around,” he said.
