On the streets of Traralgon, local resident John told the Monitor he has to swerve around the roads at night to avoid the potholes that pepper the region’s bitumen.
“I've been playing dodgem”, he said. “That's why I haven't had my car damaged. You've got to be really vigilant, and it's hard at night because it's not easy to see all the potholes around the place.”
John’s story would not be unheard of to Traralgon residents. The region faces severe road degradation and a pothole crisis that frequently damages vehicles, and councils have been left waiting for state government funds to undertake repairs.
What happened: Every month, the Monitor hits the streets of a Gippsland town to ask locals what the biggest issues are in their region. There’s a good chance no matter what area you’re in that most responders will say the state of the roads is the standout problem.
Stories of damaged vehicles from unsafe roads aren’t anything new. Another 50-year-old Traralgon resident said the roads in regional areas have always been left behind.
“All you have to do is look around your local area to see how many road speed limits have been downgraded because the roads haven’t been maintained.”
He pointed to the downgrading of the speed limit from 100km/h to 80km/h on the backroads connecting Churchill and Traralgon earlier this year as an example.
Where’s the funding? In Victoria, councils manage 87 percent of the state's road network. With a network that spans six local government areas, Gippsland councils manage a combined total of around 11,800km of roads.
Professor of Economics at the University of Canberra, Stephen Bartos, told the Monitor some local governments have the fiscal capacity to maintain roads in good condition while others, particularly those in remote areas with a low population base, find it much more difficult.
🗣️ “There's a number of local councils which simply don't have the funds to purchase the kind of heavy equipment that's needed to keep roads in good repair,” he said.
Bartos said some repairs are covered with local government rates but councils are often left waiting for state government grants to fix potholes and damaged roads because of the mounting cost of repairs.
With a Victorian election set for November, political parties are making their promises to clean up the state’s pothole problems.
What are the parties promising? In July, the Victorian Labor Government allocated $1.04 billion for annual road maintenance in its latest budget, promising to give 70 percent of that funding ($728 million) to regional Victoria.
The Coalition announced it will invest slightly more, $1.25 billion per year in road maintenance over four years, however it's not clear how much of this will be spent regionally.
Liberal Party leader Jess Wilson has said separately that she will commit 25 percent of the state’s infrastructure budget to regional areas.