WE TAKE A LOOK AT VICTORIA’S ROADS
There can be little doubt roads in Gippsland and the rest of the state are in poor condition with some commentators calling Victoria the ‘Pothole State.’ Anyone who drives will be well aware that vigilance is required to avoid potholes, some so bad they can actually do damage and must also present a safety risk.
‘Roads, rates and rubbish’ is often cited as the primary role of any local council and it is easy to assume that all roads are the responsibility of councils, but this is not so.
The reality is that highways and arterial roads are the responsibility of the state government. Maintenance of non-arterial roads – essentially streets – are the responsibility of councils. For example, Princes Highway, Trafalgar is the responsibility of the state as is the Trafalgar-Thorpdale Road, as is the Trafalgar Willow Grove Road. The street you live in is almost certainly a council responsibility.
Baw Baw Shire Council spent just under $6 million on roads last year, which is equivalent to just under 10% of the income it derives from rates and it clearly isn’t enough. However, while council is responsible for maintenance of much of the road infrastructure, it simply can’t sufficiently fund all road maintenance through rates. The federal government funds a lot of the roadworks and the state funds some.
David Hair, Manager, Infrastructure at Baw Baw Shire told Traf District News that the council has 1800 kilometres of roads to look after. Putting that into perspective, that is the distance from Warragul to Brisbane and it is a massive task. Mr Hair also told us that 900 kilometres of roads are unsealed and that the council is constantly grading those roads.
The good news is that the federal government significantly increased council’s Roads to Recovery funding allocation from $8.9 million from 2019 – 2024, to $15.7 million for 2024 – 2029 (FY). This will enable the further delivery of road reconstruction projects. Council is also lobbying the state government for $3 million to allow Regional Roads Victoria to design a fit-for-purpose arterial road system to replace the very old roads in the shire.
The National Transport Research Association recently conducted a survey of 8,400 kilometres of Victoria’s roads and found 91% to be in ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ condition. A total of 296 lives were lost on Victorian roads in 2023, an increase of 22.8%, or 55 deaths, the highest number of deaths in over 15 years. Is there a connection between deteriorating road conditions and increased deaths?
There is another misconception that the money raised through vehicle registration goes back into roads. It doesn’t. There were 5.4 million vehicles registered in Victoria in 2023 and by our rough calculations, that earned around $4 billion. The state government has set aside $964 million for roads this financial year which is less than a quarter of registration income. Many people believe that registration money – like fuel excise taxes – goes directly to roads, but that is not how it works
Rather than repair roads properly, it seems, in some instances, reducing speed limits on roads in poor condition is a way the government gets around the problem.
If you damage your car, as a colleague of mine did recently, destroying two tyres and rims on Cardinia Road, his efforts to obtain compensation failed. The government has set a threshold of $1,640 for any claim, meaning that if you do $500 worth of damage, or $1,400 worth of damage they won’t entertain compensation. Only if your claim is $1,640 or above will it be entertained.
The simple truth is that not enough money is being spent on our roads but it is unreasonable to blame the council for that as they can only do as much as available funding allows.
We will bring you more on this important topic in the November edition.
See what people say – Vox Pop – elsewhere in this issue.
