Secret survey exposes Victorian Government’s roads neglect

A survey revealing the true catastrophic conditions of Victoria’s regional roads was kept a secret by the government. Now, The Weekly Times can reveal its shocking findings.

National Transport Research Organisation chief Michael Caltabiano and his team have exposed the catastrophic condition of Victoria’s road network.

EXCLUSIVE:

Victoria’s regional roads crisis has veered further off course with 91 per cent of the 8400km network deemed to be in poor or very poor condition, leaving it at risk of falling apart. The Weekly Times can reveal that tightly held National Transport Research Organisation surveys show the percentage of regional roads classed as “fair” or better plummeted from 70 per cent during 2022 to just 9 per cent during 2023 – and none of the roads surveyed were rated in good or very good condition.

The Victorian Labor Government had tried to keep the NTRO surveys under wraps after winding back its road asset management budget from a Covid-stimulus high of $807 million in 2020-21 to just $442m this financial year.

But NTRO chief executive Michael Caltabiano let slip a summary of the last three years of survey results at last August’s AustStab roads conference, which has only recently come to light.

Victorian opposition roads spokesman Danny O’Brien said the surveys “confirm what regional Victorians knew – that the state of our roads is disastrous after years of funding cuts”.

“To see that 91 per cent of our roads are in poor or very poor condition is an indictment of the government’s performance and that affects every Victorian travelling our roads every day,” Mr O’Brien said.

“This data shows that the blip of an increase in (2020-21) roads maintenance spending during Covid has now been wiped out by wet seasons and our roads are even worse off now.”

The NTRO surveys show the state’s $80 billion road network is now even more vulnerable to wet weather, as water pools on rutted and deformed roads and the failure to seal cracks allowing it to then seep in and undermine the base.

In his conference presentation Mr Caltabiano warned the “road structural assessment indicated significant reductions in remaining life”, creating a massive maintenance liability.

Municipal Association of Victoria president and Glenbrae farmer David Clark said it was hard to tell how much of the damage was due to underinvestment over a long period of time and what was due to the 2022 floods.

Roads Minister Melissa Horne’s office said: “What were previously considered once in a generation flood events are now commonplace, bringing record rainfall and inflicting unprecedented damage on our roads.”

Ms Horne’s office said the government had responded by committing $6.6 billion over 10 years to “future-proof regional roads”.

“This year we’ve invested more than $770 million to road maintenance across the state – that’s equivalent to $2 million each day.”

But the government’s 2023-24 Budget Paper 3 shows road asset management funding has been cut by 25 per cent, from $702m in 2022-23 to $442m this financial year.

The budget also shows the government failed to meet its road resurfacing and rehabilitation targets last year.

Critics say the situation is made worse by the government’s continued failure to clear thousands of kilometres of roadside drains, where water pools and undermines the adjoining road’s foundations.

Water pools and then seeps into cracks on deformed and rutted roads, destroying its foundations.

In answering an Opposition question on drain maintenance last December, Ms Horne stated that across the entire road network just “900 drainage defects were completed within regional Victoria, including the removal of aggregate and debris from open drains, cleaning of underground storm water pipes/culverts and surface drain reshaping”.

The minister also reported just 25km of unsealed road shoulder has been graded.

The 2022-23 Department of Transport and Planning annual report reinforces just how neglected the drainage network has become, stating just 79.9km of drainage works were conducted as part of its flood recovery effort, plus 835km of partial and 10km of full road pavement rehabilitation.

As roads crumble the government has been forced to impose a growing number of pavement management plans, effectively cutting speed limits on roads it does not have the funding to repair.

In responding to questions from Opposition members of the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, DTP bureaucrats said there were 480 sites in regional Victoria subject to “pavement in poor condition” management plans, as of October 30 last year.

In its response, the DTP said: “These roads section have either condition-based speed limit reductions, advanced warnings of rough road signage, or are being actively managed through additional inspections”.

Asked how the Opposition would rebuild the state’s roads, Mr O’Brien said it was difficult to predict what shape the budget would be in two years, but that the Coalition had gone to the last election with a $10 billion commitment to road maintenance over 10 years.