South-west freight operators say they have growing safety concerns about the state of the region's roads, with one consultant claiming it's making it harder to attract drivers.
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In the 2019 Barwon and South West Dairy Supply Chain study, the five south-west Victorian councils asked for $317.5 million, over a decade, in road funding.
But the state government committed only $17 million, over four years, in the 2020-21 budget, while federal authorities put in $17.5 million federal funding in May last year.
Independent transport consultant Tony Noske said he had been involved in logistics in the region for about 55 years.
"The quality of the roads is having a massive impact on road safety and the ability of people to find drivers because people just don't want to drive trucks on those roads," Mr Noske said.
"The region between Geelong, north to Ballarat and to the South Australian border, would be high up there as having the worst roads in the state.
"It's a very safe Liberal area, so the Liberals don't spend any money down there and Labor doesn't spend any money there either, because they are not going to win any votes down there."
Corangamite Shire mayor Ruth Gstrein said much of the money that had been spent so far had gone on resealing and intersection works near entrances to regional towns.
"Those works desperately needed to be done," Cr Gstrein said.
But she said that was only a start and significant work needed to be carried out on routes such as the Cobden-Stoneyford, Cobden-Warrnambool and Darlington roads.
"The Darlington road (between the Hamilton and Princes highways) is a major spine for production but significant lengths of it are only single lane," Cr Gstrein said.
"There are drop-offs in the shoulders which are 10-15 centimetres deep on a road that carries B-Doubles and school buses."
Earth-moving and heavy plant operator WA Molan and Sons managing director Peter Molan said the Cobden-Terang Road was particularly bad as it carried a heavy volume of B-doubles, hay, grain and fertiliser trucks.
"Nearly all the northern traffic uses this road to go through to Heytesbury and the southern region," Mr Molan said.
"This road is rough and narrow with no shoulders, this weakens tyres and is hard on the trucks and drivers. It's as rough as guts, it's got no shoulder and it's narrow and dangerous."
Apart from damage to tyres and other truck parts, drivers found it mentally challenging to drive along, he said.
"It's nerve-racking along there, you come along and suddenly there is no shoulder," Mr Molan said.
"There is no room for any give or take.
"If you have a hay truck, which is carrying a load four bales high, they don't want to drop a wheel off the road because the truck lurches out to the left and makes it unstable.
"Cattle trucks are the same - if you meet someone the other way, you have to hang on and hope for the best."
WA Molan and Sons chief mechanic John Rodgers said the lack of proper shoulders on the roads was causing significant tyre damage to vehicles.
"It's something that wouldn't happen - if the edges of the roads were maintained, the potholes filled in and they had a wider shoulder," he said.
"The road has no shoulder, so it's off into the dirt."
Another transport operator, who declined to be named, said the cost of general repairs and maintenance for trucks and trailers in the south-west was 20 per cent higher than for northern Victoria.
"Repairs and maintenance should cost nine to 10pc of the budget - in the south-west its up to 20pc," he said.
The state government says it's recently spent nearly $4 million on rebuilding 3.7 kilometres of the Lavers Hill-Cobden road.
Roads Minister Ben Carroll said the $3.9m pavement rehabilitation would benefit one thousand daily motorists, particularly freight operators who made up 20 per cent of the daily users.
The work was carried out under the $115 million Inland Routes Program
The program aimed to improve connecting inland roads between the Great Ocean Road and Princes Highway.