Six month wait to fix flood-damaged roads

One MP says it’s “diabolical” that roads damaged in devastating floods will have to wait six months for significant improvement works.

Flood damage in regional Victoria.

Roads damaged in the devastating Victorian floods will have to wait six months for significant improvement works because the state and federal governments need to thrash out a funding deal.

The time frame to get moving on the roadworks – which would make them more resilient to future deterioration – has been slammed as “diabolical” by the federal opposition in the wake of the deluge, estimated to have caused $1bn worth of damage to the state’s roads and railways.

Wannon MP Dan Tehan said six months was “far too long” because roads across rural and regional Victoria were already bad before the floods.

He warned “patch-up” ­repairs were wasting taxpayers’ money because more work would be needed on those.

Mr Tehan called for the $2.2bn Anthony Albanese has promised to “Dan Andrews’ pet rail project” the Suburban Rail Loop to be invested in roads, saying a farmer in his electorate put his foot into a pothole that “went down as far as his hip”.

Some of the damage caused during the October floods.

But Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt defended the time frame, saying they were still in the “recovery phase” of their response.

“We are in constant conversations with the state government about what support can be provided, particularly as we move into the rebuilding and resilience phase,” Senator Watt said.

He said the road improvements would be detailed once they knew more about the widespread flood impact. “As the full extent of the damage becomes known over the next few months, we will be able to provide more detailed information about any potential betterment works.”

The Herald Sun earlier this month revealed that the Victorian Transport Association estimated it would cost $1bn to fix Victoria’s flood-ravaged roads and railways.

The bill to fix the roads could top $1bn

VTA chief Peter Anderson acknowledged it would take some time to repair the damage, adding materials and ­labour for the “massive job ahead” needed to be sourced.

But Mr Anderson urged federal and state leaders to ­allocate funds and prioritise roads for reconstruction now, so work could begin when the water recedes.

A Victorian government spokeswoman said its $165m emergency road repair blitz was ensuring the towns hit hardest by flooding remain connected to vital supplies and services. “We have a partner in Canberra focused on delivering the infrastructure and services Victorians need and we will continue to work with them to provide support to flood-affected communities,” she said.

But federal opposition infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said many local councils that had roads destroyed by recent torrential rain events were not eligible for disaster recovery cash.

“Mayors have made clear this is a crisis that requires urgent attention` now, not at some theoretical point into the future,” she said.