15 of Victoria’s worst roads revealed
A list of some of the state’s worst roads has been revealed as the Andrews government cuts spending on road resurfacing.
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Victoria’s regional roads are in such shocking disrepair and funding is so limited that the government has been forced to slash $120m from its road resurfacing budget to focus on urgent works.
The Herald Sun can reveal the Department of Transport and Planning is struggling to keep pace with the problem of repairing the network since an audit of roads after the 2022 floods found the scale of disrepair was much greater than originally thought.
It is understood experts are finalising a program of works that will repair hundreds of kilometres of Victorian roads.
But the department is getting no extra money, instead moving funds around to pay for the most urgent issues.
This has meant a dramatic cut to funding for periodic road surfacing, which is normally important proactive maintenance to stop roads deteriorating.
Contractors have been told money in this year’s budget for this maintenance has been reduced from $150m to just $30m.
In other years, the government has budgeted as much as $250m for resurfacing and tenders are usually advertised in July.
But no tenders have gone out this yet this year because there is little money for this work to go ahead.
VSA Roads managing director Justin Bartlett, who is typically a major bidder in the process, said he had been told the money was reallocated to “major project overspend and flood recovery”.
Map Sources: Victorian Transport Association, State opposition, mayors of Gannawarra, Buloke, Central Goldfields, Corangamite and Loddon
He said the department was being told to fix the road network without additional funding, despite knowing it was in worse shape than originally thought.
“The rule of thumb (before the cuts) was 8 per cent of the network would be resurfaced on an annual basis,” he said.
“One major rain event here and the whole thing falls apart.
“It has been happening over the last decade but particularly over the last four years we are no longer resurfacing to the extent we once were. We’re getting to the state where our road networks are looking like a third world nation.” In every state budget, the government sets out a target for how much road space will be “resurfaced or rehabilitated” in Melbourne, the outer suburbs and regional Victoria.
But this year’s budget left this category blank, instead writing “TBC”.
Opposition roads spokesman Danny O’Brien said everywhere he drove recently across the state the roads were crumbling, potholed or patched up so often it was “like riding a rollercoaster”.
“Instead of addressing the crisis after last year’s floods, Labor’s budget this year actually allocated less maintenance money than the last year of the former Liberal and Nationals government – nearly 10 years ago,” he said.
A government spokesman would refer only to 10-year figure, rather than addressing questions about this year’s resurfacing works.
“This budget delivers an extra $2.8bn in road maintenance over 10 years to ensure motorists can keep moving safely,” he said.
“This extra funding means at least $6.6bn will be invested in road asset management on Victoria’s road network over the next decade.
“It includes rebuilding, resurfacing and repairing works, as well as bridge and drainage repairs to support the productivity of the road network.”
Victorian Transport Association chief executive Peter Anderson singled out the Melba Highway as being in desperate need of repairs, saying there were several breaks in the road of up to 6sq m.
“The Melba Highway is a major arterial road for freight, tourists and regional communities, especially during the snow season, and it must be fixed,” he said.
“These are much more than just potholes, but over 40 physical breaks in the road of up to a foot deep that we are aware of.” RACV head of policy James Williams said the organisation wanted to see federal and state government invest in regional road repairs and upgrades. “Regional road maintenance is not sufficient and needs to increase to ensure road safety outcomes improve,” he said.
Driver’s extreme measure to get road fixed
Frustrated motorists and mayors have called for urgent action to fix dangerously potholed and poorly patched major roads across Victoria.
One fed up driver in the state’s north resorted to extreme measures to highlight one notoriously pothole-riddled road.
The mystery motorist spray-painted “F---ING FIX ME” in green letters across the width of pothole-pocked Leitchville-Kerang Rd near Leitchville recently.
Gannawarra mayor Charlie Gillingham said that strip was one of the two worst sections of road in his municipality, along with the Loddon Valley Highway near Appin South.
“There’s numerous bloody potholes, ups and downs,” Cr Gillingham said.
“The road has got soft underneath and the heavy vehicles have been pushing dirt around and making it really unsafe.”
Cr Gillingham said many potholed roads were being repeatedly patched, but remain unsafe because the patching has not been up to scratch.
“They need to do the job properly,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of patchwork done, but pretty poor work in my opinion.
“I drove to Bendigo yesterday and spent most of the time dodging potholes. The worst thing about it is how unsafe it is.
“You see a pothole and you swerve to miss it, but sometimes you have to swerve right. If you’re not watching what you’re doing, you scare the other driver coming towards you.”
Buloke mayor Alan Getley said the sections of the Calder Highway and Sunraysia Highway running through the north-western Victorian municipality were among the worst roads in the state.
“Both have suffered significant damage in the 2022 floods and rain events,” he said.
“That section of the Calder around the 5K north of Charlton mark is quite bad.
“They’ve patched it several times and patching is just not going to do it. It needs to be resheeted, relaid.
“Patching is putting a Band-Aid on a dyke – it’s just not going to work.
“The state government needs to roll out some dollars and fix these types of roads.”
Corangamite mayor Ruth Gstrein nominated Mackinnons Bridge Rd near Noorat and the Cobden-Port Campbell Rd in Newfield as the worst in her municipality – but added they had plenty of competition.
“It was a tough choice as I think we could have filled a page of arterial roads needing attention!” she said.
Cr Gstrein said Cobden-Port Campbell Rd, a popular route with tourists because it connects to the Great Ocean Rd, is affected by subsidence issues at the southern end.
“It’s very dangerous for those not familiar with it,” she said.
“The answer seems to be reduced speed limits!”
Loddon mayor Dan Straub said the worst state road in his municipality was Bendigo-Pyramid Rd, which was already bad before the 2022 floods wreaked havoc across the state.
“This road has had significant damage prior to the 2022 floods, and now continues to degrade,” he said.
Woman forced to buy 4WD roads so bad
After hitting a huge pothole that wrecked her car, Bryley Wishart has been forced to upgrade to a 4WD just to feel safe on the highway.
The disability support worker from Sale was stranded by the side of the Princes Highway at Bunyip for nearly four hours after hitting the pothole so hard it felt like a collision.
Ms Wishart said it was “ridiculous” that major roads were so poorly maintained that she needed to buy a 4WD to negotiate them safely.
“I don’t think the roads are safe,” she said.
“It was very dangerous. If I had hit a pothole much bigger than that, I would have lost control of my car. And it’s all over the state – the roads are shocking everywhere.”
Ms Wishart was driving a client into the city in her Mercedes sedan for a day at Melbourne Zoo when she hit a deep pothole almost half the width of the lane.
“I saw the pothole but I had nowhere to go – it was either run into a semi next to me or hit it,” she said.
“It made a really loud bang. The lady with me was really upset and frightened. When I pulled up, two of my tyres were popped.
“While we were waiting for the tyre place to come out, it was just car after car after car pulling over with popped tyres. At one stage there were eight cars on the side of the road.”
Apart from the initial cost of replacing the wrecked wheels, Ms Wishart was hit with one engine fault after another including cracks and leaks after the incident a year ago.
She felt she couldn’t in good conscience sell the car privately given its condition, so she traded it in about a week ago.
“It cost me nearly $5000 all up to replace my wheels and tyres,” she said.
“And I had nothing but trouble with it since then and I lost nearly half the value of my car.
“Things in my motor kept leaking. The mechanic said because the impact was so heavy, everything’s probably moved. I never had any trouble until this happened.
“It’s a Mercedes sedan – it’s not made for off-road.”
Ms Wishart’s application for compensation was rejected by the Department of Transport and Planning, which said that spot was inspected three days earlier and “no potholes were identified”.
Highway so worn out it’s like a ‘skating rink’
A livestock transport boss has warned a notoriously slippery road where a police motorcyclist crashed and was seriously injured last week is “a fatal accident waiting to happen”.
Stuart Storr, managing director of Storr Transport in Toora, said the South Gippsland Highway near Stony Creek was so worn and smooth it’s like driving on a “skating rink”.
Mr Storr said he had phoned VicRoads six times over the past year, sounding the alarm over the need to urgently resurface the dangerous stretch of several kilometres.
“It’s just a disaster,” he said.
“One of my B-doubles was following a B-double milk tanker at the same spot only half an hour earlier (before the crash) that nearly hit the guard rail.”
Two police officers on motorbikes were riding on the South Gippsland Highway near Stony Creek just before noon on Thursday when one crashed and was thrown off.
The male leading senior constable was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening upper body injuries.
Mr Storr said the worst stretch of the highway, where his trucks lose grip and slide sideways, extended from Grassy Spur, northeast of Foster, to Stony Creek Racecourse.
His son was driving a truck recently – thankfully empty – when it slid on the hazardous strip.
“Next thing it’s breaking traction and the B-double’s going sideways down the road,” Mr Storr said.
“The thing is, I don’t want to kill somebody in one of my trucks, let alone the driver.
“It’s just ridiculous.”
Mr Storr said he believed it was drizzling when the police motorcyclist crashed, and the highway was at its most dangerous when wet.
“Say we put 60 bullocks on so that’s 68 tonne all up, when it’s wet you’ve got to go to the wrong side of the road or get into the second lane because the left-hand lane has no metal (course rock) on it,” he said.
“When you go to change gears, it breaks traction and you’re virtually on a skating rink.
“And these trucks are not little play toys, we’re talking big gear here.”
On one Sunday, Mr Storr said police had to block the 100km/h road so the company could unload stock from a truck in order to get it up a hill.
“And that is the most dangerous thing you’ve ever seen, especially with the speed of the traffic,” he said.
Peter Stoitse Transport general freight co-ordinator Sarah Lush said the badly damaged road surface was putting lives at risk as well as causing extensive damage to trucks.
“Our guys on the road are doing everything in their power and capabilities to drive safely, but they can’t control what happens with other drivers, let alone the road conditions,” Ms Lush said.
“A pothole could bounce a car into the path of one of our trucks, our truck driver is doing nothing wrong, and they kill someone.
“At the end of the day it’s our driver that’s got to live with it, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
The cause of the collision is being investigated.
Anyone who witnessed the crash, has dashcam or CCTV footage or information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
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