Message from Alan Tudge, Federal MP for Aston

The Covid-19 pandemic has stopped a lot of things, but not our local infrastructure improvements.

One of the big developments last year was opening the Henderson Rd Bridge in Rowville. This provides another north-south link between Ferntree Gully Rd and Kelletts Rd and I’ve received great feedback on how it is helping locals and businesses by providing an alternative to Stud Rd. The final pieces to this project are the traffic lights at the Kelletts/Henderson Rd intersection and slip lanes at Ferntree Gully/Henderson Rd intersection. Work is expected to begin in September of this year.

Work is well underway regarding the Dorset Rd extension and Napoleon Rd duplication. Millions in federal funding has now been released to the state government to conduct detailed planning work. The projects will be staged together with Napoleon Rd done first so there is extra capacity. Construction is expected to commence in late 2021/early 2022 on this huge $130 million project. (More information about the process here, or Gully News report here.)

Those starting to drive to the city again on the Monash Fwy will see that Stage 2 of the Monash Fwy upgrades is now underway. This will add 36 km of new lanes including from Eastlink to Warrigal Rd. We added an extra $184 million to start it more quickly. It will be completed in 2022.

And for those who travel by train, planning work is currently underway with Knox Council and the state government for additional parking at Boronia Station and Ferntree Gully Station. $35 million in federal funding is secured and locked in the budget. These are complex projects and we want to ensure we get it right. We still haven’t settled on the design of these so there is a bit to go.

As usual I will keep you updated on all our local projects through Facebook, email and letterbox. Thanks for your patience and support as we get these local projects done.

Alan Tudge