Report ramps up call for road money

An independent report into the condition and maintenance of Victorian roads has prompted Member for Lowan Emma Kealy to call on the State Government for an immediate response.

Ms Kealy, reacting to findings of the Victorian Auditor-general’s audit into the maintenance of state-controlled roads, said the report showed the condition of the state’s roads was going backwards.

“Cuts to Victoria’s road-maintenance budget is wreaking havoc across western Victoria,” she said.

“The report revealed about 27 percent of western Victoria’s road network is cracking and maintenance is only being carried out when it becomes critical.” Auditor-general Andrew Greaves was critical in his report of a lack of government money spent on road maintenance and Vicroads’ use of available road-maintenance funding. He wrote in the conclusion of his report that:

“The increasing proportion of the state road network in very poor condition presents a growing risk to public safety and increases road user costs.

“Not enough funding is allocated to road maintenance to sustain the road network, but Vicroads also cannot demonstrate clearly that it is making the best use of its existing maintenance funds.

“Its approach to road pavement maintenance is reactive, with maintenance generally being carried out only when it becomes critical. Targeted early intervention to prevent roads from needing more costly and extensive maintenance has been limited.

“This approach has not kept up with the rate of deterioration of road pavements across the network.

“As the complexity and cost of maintenance increases, less can be done using the available levels of funding, resulting in an increasing maintenance backlog and lower levels of service for road users.

“Vicroads is aware that it needs a more strategic approach and is working towards improving its road pavement asset maintenance practices.

“It recognises that it needs greater clarity in its classification of roads and is examining how its procurement framework and performance reporting can be improved.

“Without a strategic approach to road-pavement maintenance, road conditions will continue to deteriorate and Vicroads will find it increasingly harder to maintain the entire network in a functional condition.”

Ms Kealy said the report showed that ‘if you fix country roads, you save country lives’.

“In western Victoria, 37 percent of the road network is in either poor or very poor condition, 18 percent are rough and a further three percent are rutting,” she said.

“The Andrews government is not investing enough funding in road maintenance.

“These figures won’t come as any surprise to local motorists. The Auditor General has confirmed what we as rural residents have been saying for the past two years.

“Vicroads is putting temporary speed limits on roads when they fall into disrepair because Labor hasn’t provided the money to actually fix them.”

Ms Kealy said while the report only examined arterial roads, State Government cuts to roads maintenance had also impacted on ‘local’ roads.

“Daniel Andrews axed the former government’s Country Roads and Bridges Program, which gave each shire in our electorate an extra $1-million every year to help maintain the local road network,” she said.