Western Victorian roads are not truck worthy

IF TRUCKS need to be roadworthy, then roads ought to be truck worthy.

Ross Johns on a road on the outskirts of Ballarat.

IF TRUCKS need to be roadworthy, then roads ought to be truck worthy.

That’s the call from Victorian Farmers Federation grains president Ross Johns.

The Warracknabeal farmer said “road conditions are dreadful right through western Victoria”.

“There are large drop offs on the side of the roads, pot holes … I know of roads throughout the Wimmera with fully fledged hollows in the middle of the road,” he said.

“The roads continue to get worse and the work that needs to be done is extensive.

“Instead, the money is being spent in Melbourne or on not building a tunnel.”

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Mr Johns said he knew of several poorly maintained council and VicRoads-managed roads that were “accidents waiting to happen”.

“The Wimmera Highway is horrifically bumpy,” Mr Johns said.

“When you think about what these roads deliver for Victoria’s economy, and yet the infrastructure is not there, the roads are just getting poorer.”

Mr Johns said the Blue Ribbon Road, Henty, Western and Wimmera highways across western Victoria were all in need of work.

“The Government expects primary producer trucks to be roadworthy, but farmers need roads that are truck worthy,” he said.