Ravenswood South resident Glynn Jarrett campaigning for reduced speed limit at Fogartys Gap Road

The road, which intersects the Calder Highway, is one of central Victoria's deadliest black spots, with multiple fatalities in recent years.

Glynn Jarrett, a Wildlife Victoria volunteer and secretary of the Victorian Kangaroo Alliance, said Fogartys Gap Road was also notorious for animal strikes.

He wants the speed limit reduced from 100 kilometres per hour to 80 kilometres per hour.

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"We get a lot of calls out there for kangaroos," Mr Jarrett said.

"I was only out there two weeks ago in the middle of the night trying to find a hit kangaroo, which incidentally was near a bit of work being done to make it safe for cyclists.

"Sometimes you drive along and there's a kangaroo every 15, 20 metres. There's some spots in particular where kangaroos cross a lot, so when we get a call we recognise the spots cause we're quite familiar."

This year, the Mount Alexander Shire received federal government funding "to undertake improvements to the condition and safety of Fogartys Gap Road".

Over $1 million will be spent on the construction and widening of the road at Woodbrook Road, as well as improved delineation, guideposts, cyclist and advisory speed signage and extending culverts and trafficable end walls.

However, Mr Jarrett said the works won't be enough to improve safety for wildlife.

"The planned works are only for 3.6 kilometres of a 12.5-kilometre road, so these works will do little to protect commuters and our precious wildlife," he said.

"It will really be not that much safer. In fact it could even be more dangerous because people will travel faster."

When the federal government funding was announced, Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters said the road will "still be a dangerous stretch of road".

In 2020, a cyclist was killed in a crash on Fogartys Gap Road 14 months after another cyclist was fatally struck.

Two months after that, two people were killed in a multi-vehicle collision on Calder Highway near Fogartys Gap Road.

In 2015, the speed limit on the Calder Highway near Harcourt was dropped from 100 kilometres per hour to 80 kilometres per hour, to help reduce the risk of road trauma.

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A spokesperson from Mount Alexander Shire Council said there are currently no plans to reduce the speed limit on Fogartys Gap Road.

"Currently the Department of Transport (DoT) review and approve all speed limit changes in Victoria," they said.

"Council has undertaken an assessment of the existing speed limit on Fogartys Gap Road using the tools and warrants provided by DoT, and has determined that the existing 100 kilometre per hour speed limit has been assessed as satisfactory for the type of road.

"At this stage, there are no plans to reduce the speed limit at this location, however Council will continue to monitor the location and may review the speed limit in the future."

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