Rural roads crisis: Repairs far from finished on country roads

The majority of rural and regional Victorian roads highlighted by readers last year as subpar are still in poor shape. See where they are using our interactive list.

More than half the roads nominated by The Weekly Times readers late last year as being in poor condition are still waiting massive works almost six months later.

A total of 55 roads were identified as being in a terrible state, with some damaged in major spring floods, but others suffering significant deterioration and neglect before the big rains came.

Twenty-eight of the roads highlighted remain in bad condition with councils in some of the hardest hit areas frustrated at the slow rollout of funding promised to fix them.

Other users fear patch up jobs won’t last.

Buckle-up for the ride of your life on the Wycheproof - Boort Rd. Feel for holiday makers, cars/caravans & farmers/families out this way. Actually worse than Wycheproof - St. Arnaud Rd, which I didn’t think possible. Meanwhile in Melbourne the good times roll $$ #VictorianRoadspic.twitter.com/ewbrjeS87s

— JACKIE NOONAN (@JackieNOONS) April 16, 2023

Buloke Shire mayor Alan Getley praised farmers for overcoming damaged roads to complete last year’s harvest, but with the sowing season underway more funding was urgently needed.

“We were able to patch up roads to get the harvest off, but that damaged the roads again,” he said.

“Our farmers were brilliant. They cut fences to let other farmers go through their paddocks to create roads that were better than what they could drive on.

“We need to get the disaster funding fixed up and get these roads fixed.”

The Gooramadda Road near Rutherglen suffered some of the worst damage in the heavy spring rains when it totally collapsed.

Last month it was reopened with speed restrictions.

A horror stretch of the Great Alpine Road north of Ensay. Picture: Supplied

A notorious section of the Great Alpine Road between Ensay and Swifts Creek is being “rebuilt from the ground up”, but another section south of Omeo badly needs fixing.

In central Victoria, two sections of Elmore-Raywood Road damaged in the floods have also received funding, but work hasn’t started.

A bad section of the Riverina Highway north of Corowa has been fixed, but Savernake farmer and Rural Fire Service Group Captain Greyd’n Davis said a major rethink on how roads were built was needed.

“These roads around here were made for eight tonne Bedfords and Inters and they’re now trying to run 90 tonne AB-triples on them,” he said.

“I just don’t think the infrastructure, that is 50 and 60 years old, is in place to handle that change.

“You can patch the holes after flooding, but when you run some of these enormous heavy transports on them, they just can’t handle it.”

FUNDING GAP NEEDS BRIDGING

Councils want increased funding for bridge works and changes to how funding is dispensed under the $85 million Bridges Renewal Program.

The Municipal Association of Victoria said the current model worked against those regions with multiple structures, such as the Pyrenees Shire with many of its 150 rapidly ageing bridges needing to be replaced.

A Victorian rural community say they remain separated after last year's massive floods and are demanding the state's longest timber bridge crossing, 133-year-old heritage-listed Kirwans Bridge, be repaired and reopened. Picture: Jason Edwards

MAV president David Clark said while it costs about $800,000 to replace a bridge BRP funding is capped in what individual councils can receive per annum.

“This means the Pyrenees Shire can only replace one bridge a year. A lot of councils have bridges that are not going to fall over tomorrow, but probably in the next four to five years if we don’t do something about it,” Mr Clark said.

He said while funding injections were welcome, overhauling the funding model would be more practical.

“If you have a dozen bridges you get $500,000, if you have 150 you might get a few million. It wouldn’t have to be that scientific.”