SHADOW Roads Minister Roma Britnell MP says when it comes to the dilapidated state of the region's roads, it's not so much an infrastructure issue but one of "geographic narcissism".
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Ms Britnell said when it came to fixing roads, the "city-centric" state government cared more about Melbourne than the rest of the state.
To prove her point, she met The Standard at the newly-upgraded intersection of Caramut Road and Bridge Road in Bushfield.
There's an almost perfect straight line between the freshly-rolled asphalt of the intersection and the crumbling, potholed road beside it.
"We've seen yet another example of where works have been done and literally right where the works are finished the road is still dilapidated," she said.
"This just defies logic, the community are all saying to me why are we seeing roads fixed, yet where the road-fix ends we've got potholes and deteriorated roads.
"If you're going to bring your equipment to the area to fix it why not fix all the area that needs fixing?"
Ms Britnell referenced a 2017 report by the Victoria Auditor General's Office (VAGO), which found VicRoads did not have a pavement management strategy or policy that sets out how it delivered road maintenance.
"There's no strategy, there's no supervision, no monitoring, the government is not in control of the roads," she said.
"We've got examples of roads all over western Victoria where the roads are so bad and we need our roads fixed. We are transporting product to market, kids to school, families to and from work, we have just as much rights as the people in the city.
"Daniel Andrews is costing far more than expected to on the big build in Melbourne and giving absolutely nothing to regional Victoria.
"It shows everything we need to see about this government: they care about the city and they don't care about the country."
Regional Roads Victoria south-west director Liam Butcher said the intersection was upgraded between December 2-6 and more works would be done in mid-2020.
"We recently carried out asphalt works at the intersection of Bridge Road and Caramut Road to provide a stronger, smoother road surface," he said.
"Additional works have always been scheduled to fix the next section of Bridge Road - which is around 140 metres - and we'll be back in the coming months to do just that."
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