Griffith’s roads might get a little better thanks to funding from state and federal governments.
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Member for Riverina Michael McCormack announced boosted Roads to Recovery funding on Tuesday.
A total of $1.105 billion had been made available to councils across the country as a result of the fuel excise indexation legislation passed by the federal parliament last week.
“This is great news for regional roads right across the country, as it will boost productivity throughout the Riverina and more importantly improve safety,” Mr McCormack said.
More than $6.5 million will be allocated to Griffith between 2014 and 2018 to improve local roads.
“Riverina councils were already receiving twice the amount of annual federal roads funding and this announcement is a further boost to those figures,” Mr McCormack said.
“This is part of the Nationals’ commitment to empowering local councils to make the best decision on their roads budget at a local level; not in Canberra.”
Council’s director of infrastructure and operations Dallas Bibby said it was too early to be specific about which projects the funding would be spent on.
“The funds will go towards projects which have been identified in our forward plan,” Mr Bibby said.
Member for Murray Adrian Piccoli also announced $780,000 of state government funding had been allocated in the 2015-16 NSW budget for improvements to local roads through the Safer Roads Program.
“Locally in Griffith, the program will fund upgrades including $180,000 towards installing a roundabout at the Walla Ave and Merrigal streets intersection and $600,000 to Combe and Duchatel roads to seal, improve alignment and widen the shoulders which is positive news for road users,” Mr Piccoli said.
“Generally projects approved under this program are lower cost improvements which can be delivered quickly to provide greater safety for all road users in local communities.
"These important road safety projects will be delivered in partnership with local government.
“Improvements will be delivered as soon as possible.”
“The funding is part of the NSW Road Safety Strategy which aims to reduce the number and severity of crashes on NSW roads.”
