Liberal candidate for Bendigo East Ian Ellis has rekindled historic arguments for a Bendigo ring road, suggesting a partial loop on the city’s western fringe could cater for a growing community.

But his idea was dismissed by incumbent Labor MP Jacinta Allan as an “unplanned, unfunded thought bubble”.

Connecting Ravenswood to Huntly, via Marong, by upgrading existing roads would divert traffic away from the CBD and further alleviate stress on the city’s arterial roads, Mr Ellis said.

“Council (the City of Greater Bendigo) estimates are for almost double the current population for Bendigo and surrounds, so looking at a ring road, now, before we get to that size is paramount,” he said.

“If we were to look around the state, most larger towns, such as Ballarat or Geelong, there are alternatives to driving through the CBD of those areas. Bendigo needs to plan and implement a ring road now, before further development takes place.”

Read more: Bendigo ring-road plan returns

The as yet unfunded plan would use the Ravenswood interchange to divert northbound traffic to Marong, which could then be linked to Huntly via Eaglehawk through Allies Road.

“From there (Eaglehawk) it would be easy using current roads, with some upgrading to link with Huntly, cutting out Howard street as an over dimension, and providing an alternative to through traffic instead of through the CBD,” he said.

The former policeman cited what he believed were legitimate safety concerns from residents in Howard Street as another reason the project should take precedence. 

La Trobe University senior planning and development lecturer Andrew Butt said the idea of having some form of a link between Marong and the Midland Highway north of Huntly would be a sensible solution if Marong was to become an industrial centre. 

“Whether it solves the traffic problem would be questionable because many of those are about the lack of choices people have, or make, in transport within Bendigo,” he said.

“Most of the traffic is local, getting people out of cars would provide much better solutions than trying to divert traffic.” 

Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan said: “This is an unplanned, unfunded thought bubble – now the Victorian Liberals have come clean with this plan, they have many questions they need to answer.”

The idea of a ring road has surfaced occasionally over the years. In 2010, the then Bendigo Business Council pushed for a ring road to remove heavy vehicles from Pall Mall, with an idea to position the road to Mandurang and Strathfieldsaye fiercely opposed by residents at the time.

Read more: Ring road around city ‘may be the option’

A ring road in Tannery Lane was proposed in the Bendigo 2020 Transportation Study, which was adopted in 1993, but the most recent iteration of Bendigo council’s transport plan – Integrated Transport and Land Use Strategy – does not expressly mention a ring road.

The ITLUS does however include a draft freight study, which recommended upgrading key intersections and prioritising ‘freight corridors’ to facilitate better movement of goods. 

Protecting freight routes in a growing municipality and improving safety on shared roads were two key findings of the study conducted by Bendigo council.

Options for a freight corridor between Marong and Epsom, including alternative connections to the Bendigo Livestock Exchange and protecting freight routes from encroaching development, were other outcomes of the study.