Rural roads: Transport operators, farmers and families at risk

VICTORIA’S country roads are crumbling, with growing fears that many are now beyond repair.

SPECIAL REPORT: VICTORIA’S country roads are crumbling, with growing fears that many are now beyond repair.

A lack of maintenance is threatening the safety of road users across the state, with community groups, councils, drivers and farmers saying rural roads are in crisis.

A special Weekly Times report can reveal:

FUNDING for road maintenance was cut by about 60 per cent between 2010 and 2016.

THOUSANDS of extra trucks are increasing pressure on the roads.

VICROADS expects 80 per cent of Victorian roads will be in a poor or very poor condition by 2025.

INCREASINGLY, roads are peppered with potholes, do not have appropriate shoulders and have dangerous blind turns.

THE rural road toll has increased amid deteriorating road conditions.

“Rural roads, right across Victoria, have deteriorated to the point where I just don’t know if we will ever be able to catch up (and repair them),” said Rural Councils Victoria chairman Rob Gersch.

He said road maintenance was “the number one issue” facing the 38 councils he represented.

“People are screaming out for their roads to be fixed,” Mr Gersch said. “Many of our roads and highways are just shocking, dangerous and they aren’t being fixed.”

Despite the Victorian Government’s claim it is spending more on country roads than any government before it, road users say the deterioration of the roads proves spending and maintenance is not adequate.

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The RACV is calling on the Government to provide an extra $1.2 billion over the next four years to fix the roads.

This follows a damning Victorian Auditor-General’s report late last year that found VicRoads maintenance budget has been slashed by more than half since 2010-11, increasing the risk to public safety.

“While the State Government has commenced a major program of repairs this summer, a sustained increase in spending will be needed to fix the backlog of problems, provide safer roads and ensure that we never again see Victoria’s roads deteriorate to the poor condition we see today,” RACV spokesman Dave Jones told The Weekly Times.

Back track: Emiel Timmers on Casterton-Apsley Rd, which he describes as one of the worst roads in the state. Picture: Kate Dowler

Victorian Farmers Federation president David Jochinke said he hoped November’s state election would see both sides of politics commit to urgently needed road funding.

“There needs to be billions of dollars of investment over multiple years to bring the roads up to scratch and ensure they’re maintained properly,” Mr Jochinke said.

He said all roads needed to:

HANDLE high productivity vehicles, at the state speed limit.

HAVE wide, maintained shoulders.

BE FREE from potholes.

“We need roadworthy, roads” Mr Jochinke said.

“There’s not a week go by when I personally don’t see myself, or hear from someone about, the poor conditions of the roads. I can think of half a dozen I’ve discussed in the last week alone that are absolutely stuffed.”

Mr Jochinke said poor roads were a statewide issue, with regional Victorians disproportionately represented among the state’s road toll.

“Even as the overall road toll decreased in 2017, the percentage of fatalities increased in regional Victoria,” he said.

Last year, deaths on city roads dropped from 141 to 104, while those killed on country roads rose from 149 to 153.

Victoria’s south-west, which has become notorious for its poor roads, is taking a battering following years of neglected investment and increased heavy vehicle traffic.

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Green Triangle Freight Action Group chairwoman and Glenelg Shire councillor Karen Stephens is demanding $100 million to fix failing roads across 11 Victorian and South Australian shires.

The Green Triangle is home to 150,000ha of bluegums, planted as part of Managed Investment Schemes of the 2000s,

Harvest of the trees is now in full swing, sending a wave of trucks on to local roads.

Ms Stephens said the region faced a “crumbling road network, which needs a total rebuild”, and that roads were failing to cope with volume of bluegums being trucked to the port of Portland.

The port received 195,000 truck movements annually, and the roads were not made to cater for B-doubles and B-triple trucks, Ms Stephens said.

State and federal governments were advised 10 years ago about the looming increase in timber traffic, but failed to fund upgrades and repairs, she said.

Rural Councils Victoria wants the governments to urgently boost funds for local government and VicRoads.

“Our politicians need to get out of Spring Street and come for a drive into rural areas and talk to local people, councillors and VicRoads people and really understand just how bad they are; every shire has these issues,” Mr Gersch said.

He said the State Government should immediately reinstate the Country Roads and Bridges funding, where each rural council received $1 million annually under the former Coalition Government.

This week, Roads Minister Luke Donnellan told The Weekly Times the Government had doubled spending on road maintenance since coming to office in 2014.

“We’re spending $300 million in the south-west this financial year alone, delivering the road rebuilds, resurfacing and upgrades we need to keep community safe,” he said.

The Victorian Auditor-General last year found funding for VicRoads’ maintenance had fallen by about 60 per cent since 2010-11, and it questioned the effectiveness of the organisation’s spending.

“The increasing proportion of the state road network in very poor condition presents growing risk to public safety and increases road user costs,” the Auditor-General’s report said.

“Not enough funding is allocated to road maintenance to sustain the road network, but VicRoads cannot demonstrate ... it is making the best use of its existing maintenance funds.”

VicRoads acting chief executive Peter Todd said safety was its “top priority” and it was now planning the “most significant period of works on country roads since World War II.”