Victoria’s worst roads: Melting bitumen nightmare for East Gippsland drivers

Landslides, potholes and melting pots of bitumen are everyday nightmares for drivers in East Gippsland. Are these Victoria’s worst roads?

Thousands of dollars worth of damage was caused to vehicles on Mallacoota Rd at Genoa last week after sealing works went horribly wrong.

East Gippsland is gunning for the unenviable title of having the state’s worst roads.

Locals are convinced they have the gong after a disastrous week saw landslides close The Great Alpine Rd between Bruthen and Omeo for the fourth time in the last 18 months, and a road-sealing job went horribly wrong at Genoa in the far east causing thousands of dollars of damage to vehicles as thick black tar coated the tyres of those that traversed Mallacoota Rd.

Meanwhile, recent shoulder edging works on Bengworden Rd between Bairnsdale and Sale have spectacularly fallen apart, and according to frustrated road users venting on social media, there are “deep potholes and blowouts” pock-marking the Princes Hwy from Stratford all the way to the NSW border.

It doesn’t stop there.

Truck and bus drivers describe the poor surface works and melted bitumen on the narrow, winding section of the Princes Hwy at Mt Drummer, east of Cann River, as “extremely dangerous and slippery” when wet and “an accident waiting to happen”.

At Omeo, residents say “stunt driving” skills are required to negotiate the terrible roads and it’s “only a matter of time” before someone gets seriously injured. Others say potholes are so big and deep “you have to drive in and then out of them again”, and so frequent it is like “driving on speed humps”.

State member for Gippsland East Tim Bull said country roads were the worst they had been in a decade.

“Our road network is failing and of more concern is the roadworks at the present time in a number of locations have made the roads worse than what they were previously,” he said.

“I don’t blame the contractors for this. Contractors on the ground have said it was too wet to do this work but nevertheless VicRoads said to push on and now we have roads like Bengworden that represent the Somme battlefield.”

Minister for Roads and Road Safety Ben Carroll did not respond directly to The Weekly Times but a government spokesman said more than 260 road maintenance projects were being delivered across Gippsland as part of the Victorian Government’s regional road maintenance blitz, including upgrades at Mt Drummer, stabilisation works and rockfall netting on the Great Alpine Rd.

“We’re delivering a huge program of works across Gippsland including upgrading a section of the Princes Highway between Sale and the NSW border, 260 critical road maintenance projects, and works to repair roads damaged in the unprecedented June storms,” the spokesman said.

However, Mr Bull said not enough was being done by RRV to ensure roads were safe.

“How can you have three major landslips in one area of the Great Alpine Road and say we are looking after the safety of motorists? Imagine if there was a car underneath that or a school bus,” he said.

Mr Bull said regional roads needed a greater share of funding and to be built to a higher standard.

“I’d like to know how much we’ve wasted by going back to fix failed roads because they haven’t been built to a high enough standard in the first place,” he said.

“SHOCKING” ROADS CLOSED FOR DAYS

Tambo Valley SES unit controller Shane Peach, Swifts Creek, said the landslides at Namestone Pt on the Great Alpine Road had seen SES crews called at least half a dozen times in the last 12 months and the road had often been closed for days at a time to clean up. It has had temporary traffic lights installed and been reduced to a single lane for 18 months.

“It’s very dangerous. Every time I go down there I’m so glad there hasn’t been someone coming through at the exact time (of the landslide),” Mr Peach said.

“It would have squashed a car or a truck and could have pushed them straight over the bank which is a steep drop, a couple of hundred metres down.”

He said the state of the Great Alpine Rd was “shocking”. He counted 42 large blowout potholes between Swifts Creek and Omeo.

The Great Alpine Rd is the only access road other than bush tracks between Omeo and Bruthen.

Great Alpine Road, between Omeo and Bruthen -landslides on Great Alpine Road

TOURISM IS COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Omeo farmer Catherine McCoy, who helps run horseriding tours and an accommodation facility in the Bundarra Valley, is fed up with the state of the roads.

“It doesn’t help when you have paying guests coming up that way,” she said.

“It seems all that we have been doing the last two years is deferring people’s holidays or giving their money back. Fires, Covid and bad roads are doing nothing for the tourism businesses up here as well as buggering local plans.”

Great Alpine Road, between Omeo and Bruthen -landslides on Great Alpine Road

PATCHING DOESN’T CUT IT

Cobains farmer Travis Kelly travels the Bengworden Rd several times a day and says roadworks recently conducted were “falling apart within days” of completion.

“It seemed rushed and I’m sure they will blame the weather but it has made it so unsafe. It was better before they touched it. Patching it is not cutting it either. New holes are opening up every day,” he said.

Shoulder edging works have made Bengworden Road more unsafe than it was before.

“I LOST CONTROL”

Mallacoota resident Keith Simpson lost complete control of his vehicle on the Mallacoota Rd at Genoa last week after his tyres became caked in wet bitumen.

He was one of many who sustained thousands of dollars of damage to vehicles after sealing works went horribly wrong and didn’t set hard due to heavy rain.

“I lost control of the vehicle because it couldn’t get any traction. It started to slide all over the road,” Mr Simpson said.

“It was extraordinarily dangerous. My steering made very little impact on it.”

Mr Simpson said there were vehicles pulled over everywhere and “a huge number were completely covered in tar”.

There is no guarantee of compensation. Affected parties must first register on the Regional Roads Victoria website.

“They have directed me towards a six or seven page complaint form,” he said. “That’s what I’m going to do … but I need a vehicle and I can’t wait and sit for an indefinite time. I’ve ordered a new set of tyres and I will have to get them put on.”

The Weekly Times understands that the road contractor had raised concerns with RRV about the weather forecast of 200mm of rain prior to the sealing works commencing.