Party to celebrate road completion

Horseshoe Bend Nursery’s Lucy Hunter and Nathan Oster with MRPV’s Ed Duncan and sons Noah, 6, Rory, 5, and Xavier, 1, ahead of the community event. The nursery will supply the event’s 500 giveaway native plants. (supplied)

Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV) is celebrating the completion of Stage 1 of the Barwon Heads Road upgrade with a free community event.

The event is MRPV’s way of thanking the community for its patience during the upgrade’s construction.

The event, at South Barwon Reserve on Sunday July 30, will have family-friendly entertainment, activities, giveaways and refreshments will feature for the duration of the event’s three hours from 11am to 2pm.

A petting zoo, face-painting, games, a sausage sizzle and live radio crosses will also be part of the fun.

“We’re looking forward to hosting our family fun day at South Barwon Reserve as a thanks to the community for their patience while we completed the Barwon Heads Road Upgrade,” MRPV program director Tim Price said.

“The event will see plenty of activities and entertainment on offer for kids and adults to enjoy.”

With the event falling on National Tree Day 2023, MRPV will have 500 plants from Horseshoe Bend Nursery to give away.

The community is encouraged to arrive at the event using the upgrade’s new shared-use path, which is the road’s first continuous connection for walking and cycling between Belmont and Charlemont.

The upgrade has added 4km of lanes between Belmont and Charlemont.

Completed six months ahead of schedule, the upgrade is set to cater for 44,000 daily journeys by 2031.