Ararat Rural City Council Backs Urgent Call for Western Highway Duplication to Recommence

Ararat Rural City Council is supporting a proposed motion to the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) to urge the State and Federal Governments to recommence the Western Highway duplication as soon as possible.

The proposed motion seeks MAV’s support in calling for both governments to ensure sufficient funding and expedite the required legal and administrative processes, to enable the delayed section of works near Ararat to resume as soon as possible.

The Western Highway, Australia's third-busiest interstate freight route, has been undergoing duplication since the Bacchus Marsh bypass in 1972. To date, the project has reached Buangor, with only about 38% of the 408 km to the South Australian border completed.

Ararat Rural City Council is one of ten member Councils of the Western Highway Action Committee (WHAC), whose objective is to pursue the upgrade of the Western Highway to achieve improvements to safety, transport efficiency and amenity.

Advocating for the duplication of the Western Highway has been a long-standing priority for Council, with the section from Buangor to Ararat remaining a top item in the Council’s Advocacy Program 2025.

“There has been a lack of real progress on this project for some time,” says Ararat Rural City Council Mayor, Cr Jo Armstrong.

“We’ve seen multiple incidents on this road, particularly on the section between Buangor and Ararat in recent months. We’d really like to see this project made a priority by both the State and Federal Governments.”