Victoria’s first gazetted highway, the 157km Omeo Hwy, will finally be sealed, linking Victoria’s north and south

IT’S always been a coin toss for remote households midway on the Omeo Hwy.

Good one: Gordon Pirie, who owns the Glen Wills Mountain Retreat, gives the upgraded Omeo

IT’S always been a coin toss for remote households midway on the Omeo Hwy.

A drive north to Albury-Wodonga will take two-plus hours, or drive south to Bairnsdale, at roughly the same distance.

But now the decision will be that much easier, with the road — Victoria’s first gazetted highway — finally being fully sealed this month.

The 157km highway from the Murray Valley Hwy near Tallangatta to a junction with the Great Alpine Road at Omeo was first gazetted in 1925 and previously known as Omeo Rd.

According to VicRoads, the final 4km of sealing will conclude at the end of this month. It is the final leg of a 28km, $14.9 million project started in 2010.

Lana Antony, who owns the Blue Duck Inn at Anglers Rest, says although Bairnsdale is closer, her weekly trip to Albury for supplies will now be about 20 minutes shorter.

“I go to Albury because there’s more choice,” Lana says. “Now it will be a lot safer though. I’ve had a few flat tyres over the years — the ute has been so full and the gravel rocks so big.

“The road will mean the hotel will be busier.”

Gordon Pirie, who has lived midway on the gravel section of the highway, since moving to Glen Wills (population: one) 30 years ago, says he is in two minds about the glam new road.

“It was inevitable in some ways,” says the 54-year-old who runs the Glen Wills Mountain Retreat.

“For the business it’s going to be great. But the solitude will be shattered, especially on weekends with motorbikes. They like the bends in the road.

“If a car goes past in the middle of the night I wake up. I’m not used to traffic.”

Gordon has a special connection to the highway, having worked on the maintenance road gang for 10 years as a grader driver, clearing snow in winter around the highest peak at 1400m, filling in pot holes and keeping the culverts clear.

“The road was busier back in the ’80s, around holiday time, because a lot of families went on camping trips. Now with cheap airfares families don’t come this way as much. They probably will now though.”

Gordon has a reproduction of a 1903 tourist guide to the Omeo Rd. The guide has an ad for the Glen Wills Hotel, which was on his property before burning down in 1958.

“The Omeo Hwy was around before cars,” he says, “when it was just horse and cart.

“This was an old gold mining route and around 1890 there were thousands living here. A hundred years ago you could get your teeth fixed and your suit made in Glen Wills.

“Now I go to Albury for everything.”