Drivers demand permanent fix to notorious pothole on Yan Yean Rd

A notorious pothole in Yarrambat is wreaking havoc on cars, with one motorist claiming it caused a staggering $24,000 damage to his vehicle. And after recent heavy rain, the crater is deeper and wider than ever.

Motorists take steps to warn others of the horror pothole.

Motorists are dangerously swerving into oncoming traffic to avoid a gaping pothole on Yan Yean Rd and it’s not the first time the “nightmare” hazard has caused havoc for drivers.

The pothole was patched up on May 7, but reappeared four days later after a dumping of rain.

Motorist Steve Chaz said the pothole outside Yarrambat Primary School was so big a good Samaritan pulled over and guided traffic around it on May 11.

Doreen resident Michael McCormick still remembers hitting the 1m-wide pothole a year ago.

He said both passenger-side tyres were punctured, his suspension was damaged, and it cost him $6000 to fix.

“It was like hitting a street gutter,” he said.

“When I hit that pothole it was full of water, it had been raining and it just looked like any other puddle of water — there was no warning.”

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“Unless I’m travelling in a four-wheel drive I will avoid that road and use Ironbark Rd instead,” he said.

“It’s disgraceful that it’s been causing drivers so much trouble for this amount of time — there were dozens and dozens of cars that had pulled over that night after hitting it.”

Another driver, who wished to remain anonymous, was a passenger in her son’s car on the same night.

“It was such a big impact — it was like a sinkhole,” she said.

“There was chaos everywhere, pouring rain, at least 30-40 cars on the side of the road with their hazard lights on — it was just madness.”

Drivers pull over after hitting the notorious pothole during heavy rain last May.

The Doreen resident said the vehicle needed two new wheels and tyres, new suspension and a fog light, and repairs to the front bar, fender and grill, as well as paint work — amounting to $24,000 in repairs.

A total of 60 motorists out of 209 who voted in a Leader poll also said their vehicles had been damaged from the same pothole.

Doreen’s Jenny Hall-Wilson said she had hit the hazard so many times, she no longer replaced her car’s damaged rims.

“All four are damaged — I replaced the rims on three tyres on three separate occasions — $900 for each — and no more, what’s the point when the hole will never be properly fixed,” she said.

“I drive along the road four times every day and I see cars swerving into the opposite lane to avoid it — it’s just getting bigger and bigger and bigger.”

Damage to the tyre of a driver's vehicle after hitting the pothole on Yan Yean Rd.

Greensborough highway patrol Acting Senior Sergeant Ashley Hodges said drivers swerving into the opposite lane to avoid the pothole were unnecessarily putting lives at risk.

“Swerving is never the best course of action to avoid anything on the road,” he said.

“It’s important to maintain a safe distance between you and the car in front of you, that way you can tell when the car is slowing down and why.”

All three drivers who the Leader spoke to had lodged claims with VicRoads to seek compensation, but said they never received a reply from the roads authority.

A VicRoads spokesman, who did not want to be named, confirmed crews had been carrying out maintenance works along the section of Yan Yean Rd in question, including repairing potholes.

But VicRoads did not confirm how many times their crews had repaired the pothole in the last two weeks.

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