‘Just plain dangerous’: Locals’ plea for Melba Highway repairs

Potholes the size of craters, cracked wheels and no repairs in sight have left desperate drivers of the Melba Highway pleading for road repairs.

Drivers along the dangerous Melba Highway are desperately pleading for road repairs to be made a priority.

Local realtor Chris Price said he avoided driving on the Melba Highway due to the poor condition of the road.

“The upkeep of the road is just not a priority at all,” he said.

Mr Price drove the Melba Highway to visit his son-in-law, who lives in Wangaratta.

“We hit this pothole that completely took out our front wheel,” said Mr Price.

“When we stopped the car, we saw 15 to 20 other cars all on the side of the same road who had copped the same pothole.”

A deep pothole located on the Melba Highway. Photo: Supplied.

A pothole highlighted with spray paint to warn motorists. Photo: Supplied.

Two wheels on Mr Price’s car were fractured by the pothole costing him $1800 in repairs.

“It is such a dangerous road and all the rain and the huge trucks are just making the highway worse,” he said.

“It is never kept up to standard and it is just plain dangerous.”

Mr Price said there were too many potholes to report.

“They are just everywhere, no one could possibly report every single one of them,” he said.

“You just put up and shut up and dodge the potholes.”

A Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson said the Melba Highway was continuing to be improved.

“What were previously considered once in a generation flood events are now commonplace, bringing record rainfall and inflicting unprecedented damage on our roads,” she said.

“We’re continuing to improve Melba Highway by delivering significant rehabilitation and patching works, ensuring it remains safe for everyone who relies on this important route.”

A rain filled pothole after recent heavy rain in Victoria. Photo: Supplied.

However, not all residents are convinced the works are enough to keep the road safe.

Heathcote resident Sue Cashman said she had lost count of how many reports she had made to VicRoads about potholes along the Melba Highway.

“I can’t call them potholes, I refer to them as craters,” said Mrs Cashman.

“The Melba Highway is too dangerous for a car and you have a death wish riding a bike down that road.”

Mrs Cashman said even when a pothole was repaired, it was just not doing the job.

“It has gone past being repaired, the entire road needs to be completely resurfaced,” she said.

“I was going to watch my grandsons play footy in Coldstream and drove past a pothole being repaired.

“By the afternoon when I was coming home the bitumen had already been pulled out of the road in the exact same spot.”

The pothole on the bridge near the Cheviot tunnel on the Melba Highway. Photo: Supplied.

A cracked tyre from a pothole on the bridge near the Cheviot tunnel on the Melba Highway. Photo: Supplied.

Mrs Cashman is rallying local residents to advocate for highway repairs through her Facebook page named Potholes of Melba Highway, which has more than 1800 members.

“It’s a major highway, it is not just a back road,” she said.

“They are putting signs out for hazards on the road but not fixing the hazards.

“It is more than time for something to be done about this.”

Snap Send Solve chief executive Danny Gorog said the app was the quickest way to report road issues so governments and councils could fix the issues, with 93 per cent of issues fixed in an average of 39.4 days.

58 road-related reports were made by Snap Send Solve users about the Melba Highway in 2023.

This was a 58 per cent increase in reports from 2022.

“The more people who report dangerous issues in their local area, the safer our communities will be and the more pride people will take in them,” he said.