Road cuts: Taxpayers to pay 10 times more once they collapse

Contractors are warning failing to spend money on resurfacing roads today, will cost taxpayers 10 times as much to repair once they collapse.

Picture: RACV Pothole Patrol.

Victorian roads are set to deteriorate even further over the next 12 months as the Allan Labor Government cuts its regional road resurfacing target by 75 per cent.

In past years the government has set an annual resurfacing target of 11 million to 12m square meters, to ensure 8 to 12 per cent of regional roads were spray-seal treated, with bitumen and aggregate, to prevent water penetrating cracks and undermining road foundations.

But Victoria’s crippling $135 billion net debt has forced the government to slash and defer spending, with the 2023-24 resurfacing target cut by 96 per cent to a mere 343,000 square meters - or about 50kms of VicRoads’ 23,000km road network.

Even the coming 2024-25 target has been reduced to 3.163m square meters, equal to about 400kms of a single-carriageway road.

Road contractors, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of losing the little government work they have, said failing to resurface roads would eventually lead to their collapse.

“Instead of spending $6-$8 a square metre resurfacing, you end up having to spend $60 a square metre to rehabilitate it – dig it up, reshape, compact and re-seal,” one contractor said.

Contractors warned motorists would see more of what they had already seen over the past 18 months - “more potholes and soft area breakouts”.

“It’ll be time to move to NSW,” one said.

Roads Minister Melissa Horne said the government was delivering more road maintenance, spending $964 million this coming year alone – including extra funding to clean up the damage from flooding.

But Opposition roads spokesman Danny O’Brien said “by failing to do the preventive resurfacing work now, Labor was setting up a maintenance bomb that would detonate in future years and cost us all even more – in worse roads, damaged vehicles and more expensive road repairs”.

“In what other area of service delivery would the government deem it acceptable to reduce its performance so far?” Mr O’Brien said. “Imagine if we just decided to save money by sending 75 per cent less ambulances or performing 75 per cent less surgery in hospitals.”

The office of Ms Horne was contacted by The Weekly Times but did not respond in time for deadline.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said the state government’s dire financial position meant regional motorists missed out again.

“People look at Melbourne with millions spent on a tunnel not being built, and another tunnel way over budget and they know that money could be way better spent fixing regional roads,” she said. “The budget was disappointing but not surprising. That $964 million figure for roads is still millions short of the figure the Grattan Institute independentally assessed as the bare minimum to maintain roads to a safe standard. So we’re falling further and further behind.”