Horsham Rural City Council has distanced itself from a consultant’s report identifying a preferred Horsham alternative truck route.
The preferred route turns off the Western Highway at Camerons Road, travelling across the Wimmera River, the rail line and the Henty Highway, before turning west into Gatehouse Road and rejoining the Western Highway, north-west of Horsham.
At last week’s council meeting, councillors noted a consultant’s report on the Horsham Alternative Truck Route Feasibility Study would soon be finalised and released, but reiterated council had not yet established a position on the findings.
Landowners along the recommended route received letters from the council on Monday – for many it was the first they had heard of the study. Ian Campbell, a retired Horsham surgeon who owns land in Camerons Road, labelled the recommended route as ‘a totally dumb idea’.
Mr Campbell said much of Camerons Road was a flood plain, and the route would not only need significant investment to create bitumen roads, but also a bridge to cross the river, and overpasses over the rail line and the Henty Highway.
He said he had assumed a bypass route would be set further away from Horsham.
“It’s just not far enough out, and it does nothing if you’re a wheat truck coming from the Henty Highway – how the hell do you get down to Portland,” he said.
Mr Campbell said the idea of an alternative truck route as a short-term solution because a bypass would not be fully funded, would not work.
“Once they spend that much money on it, they’re never going to build another one,” he said.
The study builds upon the Horsham Urban Transport Plan, endorsed in 2020, which identified the need for a route that would better manage heavy traffic in and around Horsham.
Unlike a full bypass, an alternative truck route was proposed to use existing roads and remain relatively close to the urban area, aiming to reduce traffic congestion while still addressing the needs of freight and heavy vehicles.
The former council agreed to spend $100,000 for the planning work, with the Federal Government contributing another $150,000 to the study.
Council’s study, in partnership with the Department of Transport and Planning, involved a cultural heritage assessment, followed by an engineering assessment, which evaluated 12 potential alignments based on a range of technical criteria.
The consultants’ work was completed in late 2024, with a formal presentation on the technical aspects of the report made to the newly-elected council in early 2025.
Council is planning to publicly release the final report this month.
Horsham Mayor Brian Klowss emphasised the importance of careful consideration and community input in the decision-making process.
“Council has met several times to discuss the best approach for our community, whether that be an alternative truck route or a full bypass,” he said.
“While the alternative truck route report proposes a route on the northern and eastern sides of Horsham, council has not yet adopted this alignment, or any other alignment, as a preferred option.
“We understand the importance of engaging with our community to determine the best solution. This is a critical issue for the future of Horsham and its residents, and we want to get it right.”
Cr Klowss said the council would continue to seek a bypass solution that addressed traffic-flow from the Western Highway and the Wimmera and Henty highways.
At last week’s council meeting, Cr Angela Munn, in moving the motion, said she supported council’s open and inclusive engagement for the project.
“We have not formed an opinion on this at all. It’s a journey, and one I hope the whole community gets involved in, so genuinely the more input we get, the better we are and the better the result will be,” she said.
Cr Rebecca Sluggett said the preferred route was not a ‘council line’ on the map.
“We have not established our position on that because we believe that’s something our community needs to help us do,” she said.
Cr Cameron McDonald said he knew a lot of residents would be concerned about the preferred route.
“It was a DTP feasibility study and as the motion says we’ve not yet established a position, so that needs to be made very, very clear,” he said.
“We’re yet to go back to the community. Now, the Department of Transport and Planning is not particularly happy about that because they had their line on the map and that’s what they wanted.”
“We don’t think that’s very good at all because that line could potentially go much further out because what they’re proposing is still way too close to town,” Cr McDonald said.
Department of Transport and Planning Barwon South West and Grampians executive director Michael Bailey said a project working group, which included council and the department, led the study, bringing together several technical disciplines including civil and traffic engineering, cultural heritage and environmental in a multi-criteria analysis of several route options.
“This is a council-led study, where we worked with council to provide technical support on the working group,” he said
Horsham Rural City Council is inviting residents and stakeholders to join councillors on a community reference group.
Council will engage with government agencies through a separate forum, and reports of those meetings will be presented to the group for information, or discussion as required.
A comprehensive framework has been developed to guide the group to make final recommendations to the council in early 2027.
