New research shows what Gippslanders already knew: Our roads are terrible
A state government report rated many of the regions highways and streets poorly.
Jacob Wallace
October 15, 2025
What happened? The Department of Transport and planning has reviewed the safety of Victoria’s state owned roads using the Australian Road Assessment program, which rates how well roads protect drivers from serious crashes.
How do you think Gippsland went? Surprise surprise, not so good.
This is the map they used with the different colours representing different road ratings.
Gippsland’s state owned road network ratings.
Green lines indicate five star roads while black lines are one star roads.
Five star roads typically look like double-lane highways with safe overtaking lanes, good road condition, barriers and rumble strips.
One star roads will be narrow, single-lane roads, filled with potholes, no barriers and road hazards like trees right next to the shoulder.
A majority of the state run roads in Gippsland look to be between one and three stars, according to this map.
Is there a plan to fix them? In May, the Victorian government announced the state budget for 2025/26 would invest $976 million in a “Better Road Blitz to fix pot holes and upgrade road surfaces across Victoria”.
Key projects in the works for decades The state government’s Gippsland Freight Infrastructure Master Plan lists 10 road projects, including the Traralgon bypass, Leongatha heavy vehicle bypass, Drouin and Warragul arterial road network and a Sale alternate truck route.
But many of these projects have been talked about for years, even decades.
What people are saying: The chair of One Gippsland (a peak body representing Gippsland shires) Nathan Hersey told the Monitor there’s been talk about a Traralgon bypass since he was born in 1987 and it still hasn't happened.
Stage 1 of the Leongatha bypass was finished in 2016 and Stage 2 has been in the planning stage ever since.
How is it impacting driver safety? Seven people died in accidents on roads in both Baw Baw Shire and Wellington shire in the 12 months prior to June 2025.
Six people in East Gippsland lost in the same period, according to the Transport Accidents Commission.
What the people want: According to the RACV’s 2024 My Country Road survey, which had more than 7,000 responses from motorists across Victoria, potholes and poor road conditions were identified as the primary safety issue by a staggering 64 percent of participants.
That’s up from 46 percent in 2021, suggesting the problem is getting worse, not better.
