Coalition pledges $115.1m for Dyson Drive duplication in Ballarat

The state Coalition pledged $115.1 million on 28 October to duplicate Ballarat’s Dyson Drive if it wins November’s state election, Opposition leader Jess Wilson announced in Lucas, The Courier (Ballarat) reported.

Why it matters

The pledge would take Dyson Drive from two lanes to four between Remembrance Drive and Ballarat-Carngham Road, with traffic lights at unspecified key intersections. Dyson Drive is the second stage of the proposed Ballarat Link Road, running from the Western Highway to the Midland Highway south of the city, a project the City of Ballarat has ranked a top priority for almost five years. Opposition transport spokesman Evan Mulholland said the party is not committing to the full link, calling Dyson Drive “the immediate priority” and aiming to start it within the Coalition’s first term if elected, with the costing done through the Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. The Coalition’s figure sits above the City of Ballarat’s own cost estimate for the same stretch: the council’s February 2026 Advocacy Priority Projects Pipeline put the Dyson Drive duplication at $88.3 million.

The numbers

The Courier reported more than 10,000 vehicles a day travel the Remembrance Drive to Ballarat-Carngham Road section of Dyson Drive, with traffic in the area up 60% in the five years to 2021, the most recent figures cited. More than 1,100 new homes have been built in the surrounding Lucas-Cardigan area since 2021, with congestion peaking in the morning, at school pick-up and in the evening. A day after the Coalition announcement, Premier Ben Carroll announced a competing Labor pledge in Ballarat: $163.4 million to duplicate a 2.4km stretch of the adjoining Ballarat-Carngham Road to four lanes, with lights at Mirelle Drive and a roundabout at Presentation Boulevard, as part of a wider $893 million road package. The state budget allocated $6.6 million for planning and service works on that duplication in 2022.

What’s next

Wendouree MP Juliana Addison and Ripon MP Martha Haylett inspected the Ballarat-Carngham Road plans, while Ripon Liberal candidate Megan Read and Wendouree Liberal candidate Gavin Ronan appeared with Wilson for the Dyson Drive pledge. Haylett warned that duplicating Dyson Drive without also widening Ballarat-Carngham Road “just creates a bottleneck down the road,” while Addison said the focus should be on residents rather than trucks using local roads to reach Geelong. Which project goes ahead depends on who wins November’s state election, The Courier reported. The city’s roads pipeline sits alongside other Ballarat infrastructure commitments, including a $26.9m CBD social housing project nearing completion.