‘Disgusting’: Commuters slam Allan govt for ‘Band-Aid fix’ approach to Victoria’s broken road network

Victorian commuters have claimed the Allan government has put “people’s lives at risk” with mammoth cuts to resurfacing works, leaving towns plagued with potholes.

Wallan resident Ryan Cumberland says the state government’s approach to fixing the broken road network is ‘disgusting’, demanding long-term repairs take priority over patch jobs. Picture: Ian Currie

Victorian commuters have claimed the Allan government has put “people’s lives at risk” with its “Band-Aid fix” approach to Victoria’s collapsing road network.

It comes as new government data revealed a significant portion of the state’s planned road maintenance program was directed towards asphalt patching last financial year, away from road rehabilitation and resurfacing works.

Nine million square metres of road were rehabilitated or resurfaced in 2022-23 in regional Victoria, but just 422,000 square metres in 2023-24.

The Department of Transport maintains funding was redirected on the back of damage caused by excessive rainfall.

Victorians are eagerly anticipating the results of the government’s $964m maintenance program announced last month to rebuild, repair and resurface roads — the largest single-year investment in road maintenance in the state’s history, 70 per cent of which will be injected into regional Victoria.

But Wallan resident Ryan Cumberland, having already waited years for improvements, is beyond fed up with the state’s road network, noting particularly dangerous conditions north of Melbourne in the Mitchell Shire.

Ryan Cumberland has watched roads in his hometown of Wallan fall into disrepair under inadequate ‘quick fix’ patching. Picture: Ian Currie

His hometown 50 minutes from the CBD is riddled with gaping craters and uneven surfaces, its “old country roads” seeing accelerated deterioration after major flooding events and rapid population growth in recent years.

“I can comfortably say as a resident of 28 years now that it has never, ever gotten any better, especially after the floods two years ago,” Mr Cumberland said.

“There’s a liability on nearly every single main thoroughfare in Wallan.

“(VicRoads) just tops potholes up with a bit of tarmac and then within four months’ time when they’ve had a thousand cars drive over, it just drops back down again.

“The whole shire, the further north you go, the worse the roads get.”

One of Wallan’s “renowned” potholes made headlines last year when a creative resident planted a tree inside it, dubbing it the “Wallan Botanical Gardens”.

Mr Cumberland said the Allan government had neglected the major growth capital while commuters risked their lives swerving into oncoming traffic to avoid popping their tyres.

“The fact that we’re getting no infrastructure help at all … it’s disgusting, it’s terrible the way that our council always seems to miss out,” Mr Cumberland said.

Ryan Cumberland says every single main road in Wallan is riddled with potholes. Picture: Ian Currie

Meanwhile, the potholes along council-managed Darraweit Rd, Wallan have busted delivery driver Bryan Carman’s rims four times in three years, costing him $500 in repairs.

“The government tell us we’ve got to have a road worthy vehicle but their roads aren’t vehicle worthy,” Mr Carman said.

“They’re not safe. Where’s the accountability from them?

“I’m just hoping that the government can be more proactive and just take into account that there’s people’s lives at risk.”

Residents took to planting a garden in a longstanding pothole in Wallan to draw attention to the broken road network. Picture: Facebook

Mr Carman commutes as far east as Longford and as far north as Wagga Wagga, NSW for deliveries, saying the statewide road crisis was more “obvious” in growing towns like Wallan.

He claimed suburbs like his had been consistently overlooked in favour of Melbourne projects in an Allan government vote-grab.

“We’re all paying our taxes and our rates,” he said.

“It’s a growing area, so it’s only gonna get worse if nothing’s done about it.”

Chief executive of Mitchell Shire Council Brett Luxford said financial support from both state and federal government was “urgently needed” amid a “significant renewal backlog” from the October 2022 and January 2024 floods.

Potholes on the corner of Northern Highway and Duke Street in Wallan. Picture: Ian Currie

Mr Luxford said betterment funding to rebuild the affected areas to be more resilient to events like floods was “not available” from the state or federal governments.

Council had only secured “some” federal funding to upgrade a section of Darraweit Rd early next year.

“Local governments, including Mitchell Shire, cannot bear the financial and logistical burden of maintaining and upgrading road infrastructure alone,” Mr Luxford said.

“Addressing these pressures requires not only diligent management but also significant investment to meet the needs of both our current and future residents.”

Dodging potholes has become a regular occurrence for Mitchell Shire commuters. Picture: Ian Currie

A state government spokesperson said: “We’re investing nearly a billion dollars to rebuild and repair the roads that Victorians depend on every single day — from the highways connecting our major centres to the roads that keep our communities moving.”

They confirmed works were going ahead on numerous of the state’s most dangerous roads, with roads selected based upon data, expert inspections and community feedback.

“As part of our record single-year investment into road maintenance, our program includes vital repairs to the Melba Highway, Tylden-Woodend Road, Kilmore Road, Goulburn Valley Highway, and the Princes Highway,” the spokesperson said.

The Department of Transport also flagged ‘major repairs’ to Kilmore-Lancefield Road and the Hume Highway.

But Mr Cumberland urged officials to get out of Melbourne to view the wreckage for themselves, urging them against short-term patching.

“Watson St will never recover from the floods until they rip it up and start again,” he said.

“The community is trying to come together … but in the same sense, there’s only so much we can do as people. We need help from higher up.”

As part of the maintenance blitz, road crews will be patching pavement hazards along the M80 between Todd Rd and Kings Way over the coming days, before returning to complete permanent repairs over the coming weeks.

The Department of Transport has delivered asphalt strengthening repair works to Watson St on a section of road between McCarthy Crt and the Northern Highway.

Phillip Island locals forced to repair ‘ridiculous’ road themselves

Phillip Island residents are so fed up with the potholes on one of their roads, they’ve resulted to patching them themselves.

John Georgiou has been living in Sunset Strip with his wife for 13 years and is tired of the “Band-Aid” work on Panorama Ave.

Phillip Island residents are pushing for long-term repairs on Sunset Strip, describing the potholes ‘like craters of the moon’. Picture: Jack Colantuono

“It’s absolutely ridiculous to the stage where it’s getting really dangerous,” the 59-year-old said.

“Not only for us who walk here, but people on bikes, elderly people and if you are walking at night you won’t be able to see the holes so you could incur an injury.”

It had come to the point, he said, that one of his neighbours had tried to fix the potholes himself.

“He’s obviously got fed up with them being right outside his driveway — so we have to resort to filling holes by ourselves — I’ll grab a wheelbarrow myself and come down and do it,” he said.

Mr Georgiou said there’d been multiple “near-misses” as motorists were forced to drive on the opposite side of the road to avoid the dips, some of which are about “four-inches” deep.

“These potholes are like craters of the moon, or even rougher,” Mr Georgiou said.

“(The council is) using a tar suppressant to suppress the road and the dust, and the dust around here accumulates very much with everyone driving around.

“There’s (also) tire tracks on the edge of the road where people have been driving on the edge of the road to avoid this situation with all the holes on the road.

“You can’t tell me this road is safe for people to walk as well as drive on.”

Motorists have to drive on the edge of the road and onto the grass to avoid hitting the potholes. Picture: Jack Colantuono

Mr Georgiou said he had a meeting with Bass Coast Shire Council’s maintenance department and co-ordinator but it wasn’t very successful.

“Their plans are that they’re going to rip up the road and put the same thing we’ve got around the corner (crush rock) that creates excessive dust,” he said.

“It’s not good for our health — and I’ve got asthma.”

He said a maintenance worker had told him temporary repairs were failing because holes were being filled regardless of if there was water in the hollows, meaning the tar would “pop up” from the liquid underneath.

“I can guarantee you once these holes are filled — in two to three weeks — there would be holes there again because they have lifted up,” Mr Georgiou said.

“In the 13 years we’ve been here it’s gotten a lot busier — there’s more traffic and more wear-and-tear.”

Bass Coast Shire Council was contacted for comment.

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