The Turnbull government will spend $100 million on upgrading the Barton Highway and $100 million on upgrading the Monaro Highway in Tuesday's budget as part of a national infrastructure spend.
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ACT Liberal Senator Zed Seselja said the infrastructure funding would ensure "Canberrans, and many residents over the border in NSW, are able to efficiently commute to and from the south of the ACT".
“Projects to reduce congestion and improve the safety of these roads are amongst the options being considered, with the Barton Highway duplication business case due later this year, and the 2016 election commitment of a study investigating the widening of the Monaro Highway underway," he said in a statement.
Details about just what the funds will be spent on are scant, but Senator Seselja said a flyover at the Lanyon Drive-Monaro Highway intersection as well as widening the Monaro Highway in both directions were "now on the table".
Funding for the Barton Highway was promised before the 2016 election, when the Liberals pledged $50 million to upgrade the road and the Labor party pledged $76 million to duplicate the road. A spokeswoman for Senator Seselja said the $100 million was on top of the $50 million already pledged at the election.
Overall, the government says $24.5 billion will be allocated to infrastructure projects around the country in Tuesday's budget.
The Barton highway is in the marginal electorate of Eden-Monaro, and local Labor MP Mike Kelly said he welcomed the funding, but also called for the government to commit to fully duplicating the road.
"On a safety front, the Barton Highway must be fully duplicated and the government must commit to the full duplication in this budget. Nothing else will do," he said.
"I also call on the government to include funding for a properly costed building and safety plan to identify staged options so that there can be proper budgetary planning."
Labor MP for Canberra Gai Brodtmann said the government needed to increase its infrastructure spend in Canberra.
"Canberra received a paltry and insulting less than one per cent of the infrastructure spend in last year’s budget – so I’m calling on the Turnbull government to use this Budget to properly invest in the infrastructure of our nation’s capital," she said.
