Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, has welcomed a $760,000 funding boost to upgrade a 1.3 kilometre section of the Princes Highway near Newmerella.

“Regular travellers of the Princes Highway will be familiar with this section of road just west of the Newmerella township that has been regularly patched.

“It is a problematic section of road that suffers surface damage whenever there is heavy rainfall - requiring constant short term patching works,” Mr Bull said.

“I’ve had strong feedback from the local community, including the Orbost Chamber of Commerce, whose representatives met with myself and VicRoads recently to highlight this particular section as a high priority for the region.

“It is very pleasing to be back at the site today to announce the road surface will be completely rebuilt during the summer months when we have warmer and drier weather conditions required for successful road construction,” he said.

Mr Bull said this funding announcement brings the total road repair funding announced over the past fortnight to $2.5 million for East Gippsland roads, with recent announcements at Bengworden Road ($330,000), Benambra Road ($422,000) and Great Alpine Road between Omeo and Hotham Heights ($1.02 million).

“This is on the back of many other projects underway or set to commence in East Gippsland.”

Minister for Roads, Terry Mulder, said Victorians will see more roads restored this year as a result of extra funding in the State Budget.

“The Victorian Coalition Government’s recent budget allocated an extra $130 million to maintain Victorian roads on top of a $170 million boost for road maintenance last year,” Mr Mulder said.

“This takes the State’s road management budget to more than $500 million for the year 2014-15.   “This announcement for Princes Highway East is another example of how the Coalition Government is investing in better, safer roads for Victorians,” he said.   The Victorian Coalition Government’s 2014-15 State Budget also includes $5.5 million towards Princes Highway overtaking lanes between Orbost and Nowa Nowa and $625,000 for a rest area upgrade at Murrungowar.