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Moral support can be made at     fixfreewayfiasco@gmail.com

  Option 1 :

• Unnecessarily expensive.
• Deviates from existing Highway for 5.7km through fog prone valley. 
• Includes 500,000m3 of earthworks
• Bypasses existing infrastructure.
• Involves the construction of an extra bridge over a quiet side road in the path of the deviation
• Involves the excavation of large underground boulders and destruction of seepage areas providing valuable  summer source of food for wildlife.
• Ignores road-ecology's first rule to ‘avoid the fresh cut’ of the landscape
• Damages roadside vegetation.
• Destroys endangered habitats and landscapes
• Bulldozes 93 large old trees; destroys Victoria’s second largest Yellow Gum 
• Removes the landscapes natural horizons thus  destroying Djabwurrung song lines.

                             OPTION 1 DESTROYS 

• 93 large old trees, including Victoria’s second largest Yellow Gum and 2 trees that are approximately 700 years old
• Habitat of the critically endangered Golden Sun Moth (31 hectares), the Bearded Dragon, the critically endangered Striped Legless Lizard, the rare Barking Owl, and the State listed Brush-tailed Phascogale
• Rare Spring ‘soak’ groundwater that maintains a large area of plants and trees 
• Hillsides will be flattened and valleys filled in, necessitating vast amounts of soil in a borrow pit.

 

            

Stop VicRoads from wasting taxpayer dollars and destroying our natural environment. We want VicRoads southern ‘Option 1’ checked against new information.

A cheaper, less destructive route, the Northern Option has been overlooked. 

Melissa Horne and Jacinta Allan, we want accountability. How can this be in the public interest?

About this Campaign

VicRoads is planning to widen 12km of the Western Highway near Ararat, including a 5.7km deviation from the highway through hilly landscape. New data shows that the deviation destroys Federally protected flora, fauna and habitat..

VicRoads claim their procedures have been proper and thorough. We disagree.

We cannot let them continue this expensive and destructive development while they continue to rely on a discredited Environmental Effects Statement. The consequence of continuing would be as major as the destruction of thousands of trees, many between 500 and 700 years old, in earlier stages of the project.

Say NO to unnecessary destruction of our Country. Our local, centuries-old trees and precious wildlife are at risk of being uprooted and decimated by this construction. Possible Aboriginal heritage trees are also at risk of being destroyed forever. Applications to register these heritage trees have been lodged with Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.

In light of the evidence, VicRoads have:

• Fallen short of the standards and intention of  the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) and Victoria’s Native Vegetation Management: a Framework for Action (2002)
• Not used the full scope available to reduce the impact of road design and building methods
• Have not considered taxpayers in regard to costing this project.
• Have misled the public with misinformation regarding an alternative  Route..

 

Please join us for social, cultural and environmental justice by adding your signature and sharing this petition to raise awareness. You can also find more information about the campaign at www.fixfreewayfiasco.org Together we can make a difference.