Horsham Bypass Planning
This project aims to identify a route for a bypass that considers the Western, Henty and Wimmera Highways, giving priority to the factors that are important to people and our community.
There has been a long term community aspiration of establishing a bypass of Horsham, primarily to remove trucks from the Horsham CBD area. However, it is challenging to identify a route for a bypass that avoids impacting on people’s homes, businesses or lifestyle.
Why do we need a bypass?
Currently, trucks using the three highways are passing through and on the edge of Horsham’s busy CBD area, including on Baillie St, McPherson St and Wilson St. In doing so, the trucks pass two schools, the busy Lister House medical facility, Horsham’s Town Hall / Art Gallery, and many other shops and residences. This busy traffic creates potential safety issues, along with impacts on noise and comfort in these areas. For example, crossing Baillie St to visit the busy Lister House medical facility can be difficult for many patients.
Significantly, much of the traffic on the Western Highway is at night, making the noise issues worse for residents, particularly along Stawell Rd, McPherson St and Dimboola Rd where there are many residences.
The community has also sought a second bridge crossing of the Wimmera River in or close to Horsham. The Bypass could provide an option for this.
From a truck driver’s perspective, the seven sets of traffic lights in Horsham are the greatest cluster of these between Melbourne and Adelaide, adding to their travel time. Several other towns have a maximum of one set of signals only.
In regards to safety, statistics show that freeways, such as a bypass road, have much lower casualty numbers than regular arterial roads.
What is the timeline for the project?
The planned key stages in the project are as follows:
- March 2026 – appointment of Community Reference Group members by Council.
- April-May 2026 – request for community submissions on values and issues associated with a bypass
- June-July 2026 – determination of evaluation criteria by Community Reference Group, based on community submissions
- September – October 2026 – evaluation of bypass route options
- November 2026 – January 2027 – community submissions on evaluation outcomes
- February 2027 – review of submissions by Community Reference Group
- March 2027 – presentation of recommendations to Council
Looking for more information?
Please review the "Frequently Asked Questions" section below, or ask your questions by contacting Council:
Calling: 53829777 or
Email: council@hrcc.vic.gov.au
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the community support the need for a bypass?
The community seems to have supported previous proposals for a bypass, however, there have been significant concerns expressed about specific routes.
This is a question that the Community Reference Group may seek to explore with the Horsham community.
Hasn’t work already been done on a Horsham bypass?
There have been a number of studies conducted about a bypass, or truck route by various consultants. These have previously had an engineering or infrastructure focus.
The information from these studies will be made available to the community and Council’s Community Reference Group to assist in developing recommendations to Council for this project.
What is being done differently this time?
In the past, studies have mainly focused on technical and engineering matters, such as road design and traffic movement.
This time, the starting point is different. We are first listening to the community and identifying the issues that matter most to local people. Those priorities will help guide how any potential bypass route is considered, rather than focusing on infrastructure alone.
This keeps the tone balanced and makes it clear that the change is about the process, not a completely new project.
What about the Wimmera and Henty Highways?
Council’s goal is to identify a bypass road that takes into consideration not just the Western Highway, but also the Wimmera and Henty Highways. All three highways will be part of the scope of this current project.
What about all the routes that have been proposed before?
Very many different routes, possibly in excess of 20, have been considered in previous studies of a Western Highway Bypass. As part of its work, the Community Reference Group will be asked to consider a number of corridors that might be suitable for a bypass, and then evaluate how each of these addresses the needs, or impacts on a broad range of community values and issues.
The routes that have been considered in previous studies may assist the Community Reference Group in identifying certain corridors, but noting that most of the previous studies have not considered all three highways.
How will potential bypass routes be identified?
The process for identifying possible bypass routes is being developed as part of this project. It will be shaped in consultation with the Community Reference Group to ensure community priorities are considered from the outset.
In the early stages, options are likely to be identified as broad corridors rather than a single fixed line on a map. This allows different factors to be explored before any more detailed route is considered.
What if a bypass might affect my property?
At this stage, no preferred route for a Horsham bypass has been chosen, and it’s not known where it might go.
Early in the project, the community will have a chance to share what matters most to you—your home, work, lifestyle, and local environment. This input will help the Community Reference Group develop criteria for evaluating possible bypass options.
Once potential routes are identified as broad options, these will be shared with the community for feedback before any recommendations are made to Council.
Even after that, there will be further stages, including a Government Planning Panel process, where the community can make submissions before a final route is approved.
In short, there will be many opportunities for the community to have a say before any bypass is built.
What is the project going to achieve?
The key purpose of this project is to establish the community’s preference for a Bypass route. In the past, previous Government Ministers have called on Council to identify its preference for a Bypass, rather than expecting the Government to make this decision alone.
By conducting this project, Council is seeking to ensure that the community is well engaged in this decision about a preference for a bypass route.
Who will advise Council on the bypass project?
Council is setting up a Community Reference Group to provide advice on the project. The group will include a mix of voices from the community: four urban residents, four rural residents, three industry representatives, and three Councillors.
In February, nominations were open for people to apply to join the group. Council will consider these applications at its March 2026 meeting, ensuring the final group reflects the intended mix of community and industry perspectives.
How will I be able to have my say about the project?
As outlined above, there will be two key stages where community submissions are being sought, in about April 2026 and November 2026. These requests for submissions will be extensively advertised in various media at the time, relating to:
- The values that people consider are important to them relating to their home, business or lifestyle, and how these might be impacted by a bypass.
- Comments on the evaluation of various route options by the Community Reference Group.
What will Council and the Community Reference Group do with my submission?
Your input will be used at two key stages of the project:
- First round of submissions: Your feedback will help the Community Reference Group identify what matters most to the community. This will guide the group in creating a set of criteria to evaluate possible bypass routes. These criteria will be shared with Council for approval before they are used.
- Second round of submissions: After the group has looked at possible routes, the community will have another chance to provide feedback. This gives you an opportunity to support the evaluation or highlight any issues you feel haven’t been fully considered. The group will take all submissions into account when making their recommendations to Council about a preferred bypass route.
This approach ensures the community has multiple opportunities to have a say before any final decisions are made.
Who makes the final decision?
The recommendations of the Community Reference Group will be presented to Council for its consideration and decision on a community preferred bypass route.
What happens after that decision is made?
The decision of a community preferred bypass route is only the start in a larger process.
If Council makes a decision on a preferred bypass route, it will then need to liaise with the State Government to establish the need for the bypass as a priority within Government. This may require considerable advocacy work, as Government is faced with many priorities around the state.
The next key step would then be seeking funding, potentially from both the Federal and State Governments to develop a detailed business case including a design and costing for the actual bypass works. This could take several years.
The information from this business case would then be used to inform a Planning Panel process which would aim to reserve a corridor in the Horsham Planning Scheme for where the bypass route would be built.
Further advocacy would then be needed to seek Government funding to enable the bypass works to actually proceed.