General News
21 November, 2024
MP says new road investment not enough
SOUTH West Coast MP Roma Britnell has hit out at the Victorian Government’s record on roads, saying it is playing catch up to years of neglect.
Last week in Parliament Ms Britnell raised concerns surrounding data published in the 2023/2024 Department of Transport and Planning annual report which showed the area of road ‘rehabilitated or resurfaced’ in regional Victoria fell to just 422,000 square metres in 2023/24, down from nine million the year before and 11.5 million in the prior year.
She also voiced concern only 69 per cent of regional road projects were delivered on time.
Ms Britnell said “Labor’s cuts had taken a massive toll on the state of our roads”.
“It’s absurd for the Labor government to boast that fixing five kilometres on the Terang Mortlake Road as an achievement, when in the South West Coast, there are thousands of kilometres of roads that need urgent repair,” she said.
“Crowing about doing an insignificant percentage is ludicrous.
“The Allan Labor government needs to explain to the community how they are going to properly maintain all roads.
“Not just fill a pothole here and there. It’s like placing a band-aid over a gaping wound.
“It’s completely inadequate and not fit for purpose.”
Ms Britnell said roads across the state have been deteriorating for years, which was especially prominent in the south west.
“Victorians are already putting up with dodgy roads wherever they drive – particularly in the South West Coast, she said.
“The Government’s own survey last year found 91 per cent of the roads it surveyed were in poor or very poor condition – something all Victorian motorists are well aware of.”
However, the Victorian Government hit back at the claims as misleading.
Western District Newspapers understands the figures are derived from a government survey of only flood damaged roads, not representative of the entire Victorian road network, and of those flood damaged roads it was found 91 per cent were in a poor or very poor state.
As Western District Newspapers reported last month, the Victorian Government has also defended the reduction in road resurfacing efforts due to extreme weather experienced over Spring and Summer 2022/2023.
Western District Newspapers understands road resurfacing is considered the least intensive form of road maintenance, and the government had instead pivoted to strengthening and rebuilding works on flood-impacted roads.
Resurfacing focuses on replacing the surface layers of the road to both protect the pavement from water damage and fix any surface defects; but does not fix the root cause of potholes and pavement deterioration below the surface.
“It would be disingenuous of the Liberals and Nationals to ignore the unprecedented damage repeated flooding and above-average rainfall has caused to our roads,” A Victorian Government spokesperson had said.
“Now works to completely rebuild our most flood-damaged roads is complete, resurfacing levels will significantly increase during the upcoming maintenance season.
“We’ll continue this important work investing $964 million into maintaining our roads in this year alone – far exceeding the yearly average of $493 million under the previous Liberal National Government.”
However, Ms Britnell said despite claims of record spending she was aware of Victorian road crews having to travel interstate for work, while others were being laid off due to the lack of work in Victoria.
“It’s astonishing that the road maintenance crews are travelling over 2000 kilometres to far north Queensland when our own roads are so bad,” she said.
“Why aren’t they getting work here to fix our appalling roads?”