Editorial: Why are many Victorian roads at crisis point?

THE state of many of our roads is at crisis point and Victorians are asking why theirs are particularly bad.

WE’VE all driven them, but we shouldn’t have to.

They are the roads — both highways and single lanes — that do not have shoulders.

They are the roads with blind turns that will cause any heart to skip a beat.

And they are the roads peppered with potholes that will bump you out of your seat, or, worse still, force you across the centre lines.

RELATED COVERAGE

SPECIAL REPORT: RISK MOUNTS AS COUNTRY ROADS CRUMBLE

OPINION: OUR LOCAL ROADS ARE LIFE-THREATENING

In Victoria we now have a situation where truckies refer to highways as “bush tracks,” farmers claim roads are not roadworthy at all, and young mothers think twice before putting their children in the car.

The state of many of our roads is at crisis point and Victorians are asking why.

Why are country people being treated with such disdain by its governments?

As long as there is no appetite, or adequate funding, to counter the situation poor roads will continue to cost the economy, and the community.

The Auditor-General last year found that fuel use, vehicle maintenance costs and travel times all increased as a result of poor road network.

The Weekly Times has heard of drivers who have forked out tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade their cars, others drive longer routes, to cope with the crumbling roads. They are lucky if they have the option.

It is Victoria’s great shame that the Auditor-General found road maintenance funding had fallen by about 60 per cent since 2010-11.

The problem however is decades in the making.

Traffic and loads have increased drastically but our roads have not kept pace and VicRoads itself acknowledges it hasn’t kept up.

The Government says it has doubled spending on road maintenance. But the call from those who use the roads every day is that it is not enough, and it is not fast enough.

The roads are not safe.