While still in a period of transition of moving across to Horsham, I am clocking up thousands of kilometres on Victorian roads.

Driving back and forth to Horsham most weeks, it is about a seven-hour round trip.

Other than going through Bendigo, there is not a whole lot to see along the way.

But what has been obvious along the Wimmera Highway, and then the Northern Highway, is the lack of road maintenance.

Like most roads across regional Victoria, the condition has deteriorated.

While weather conditions, particularly flooding, no doubt played a part in hampering roads, the lack of government spending has also been well highlighted.

The tightening of the purse strings at a State Government level is to some point understandable – but it is coming at a cost to our roads. 

Any regional MP across Victoria will tell you that it is one of the first issues raised with them when speaking to constituents. 

It has been a trend in recent years to delay fixing the issues, whether it be potholes, the road surface or some other problem, and instead erect signs directing drivers to reduce their speed.

This is acceptable, and necessary for safety reasons, but should only be a short-term fix.

However, we’re seeing more and more of these signs staying up for longer and longer.

Last week, the Coalition said there were more than 540 stretches of road across Victoria, 480 in the regions, that are subject to speed limit reductions and driver warnings due to the poor state of the road surface.

Information provided by the Department of Transport to the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee showed the sites totalled more than 830 kilometres of road subject to condition-based speed-limit reductions – either ‘rough surface’ warning signs or ‘additional inspection’ arrangements.

The signs seem to be the Department of Transport’s default solution while they park the problem and wait for the resources to fix it.

Another trend we are seeing more and more is ‘patch-up’ jobs, rather than properly fixing the problem.

It is common to see the same, or similar, problem occur in the same spot within several years.

While it is annoying and concerning for everyone travelling on regional roads, it is in some instances actually very dangerous.

On a particular stretch of the Wimmera Highway, east of St Arnaud, there are signs directing drivers to reduce speed due to a very large pothole in the middle of the road.

On more than one occasion on my travels I have seen at least one of these warning signs over on the ground and not able to be seen by drivers.

I pity the poor driver who hits the sizeable hole in the road – it could damage your car, or worse, cause an accident.

 

The entire March 20, 2024 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!