After years of campaigning for upgrades to the dilapidated stretch, we are no closer after the federal government cut $40 million earmarked for it and south-west roads.

The state government in 2021 trumpeted in an email to our questions: "Planning and detailed design work on future upgrades for the Princes Highway between Port Fairy and Warrnambool is now under way."

It went on to say: "The Princes Highway is one of Victoria's busiest freight and transport routes, and together with the Commonwealth Government, we're examining how best we can improve it for the thousands of drivers who use it each day."

Last week we asked what were those upgrades and when could we expect them.

The state government said it had never said there would be future upgrades and we had incorrectly reported that. So this week we challenged the state government again and reminded it of its own email to us back in 2021.

It now says its 2021 comment should have said upgrades would be done with federal funding and the state would complete the works. It then referred us to the federal government, saying it was unsure if any works would happen.

The federal government danced around our question of whether upgrades were in the pipeline, indicating it too has no plans.

How hard can it be to tell us what's happening? After all, it's public money for public infrastructure.

More importantly, why is "one of Victoria's busiest freight and transport routes" (the state government's words) repeatedly overlooked for upgrades? We all know the Princes Highway east of Melbourne is substantially better developed with dual lanes.

The stretch between Geelong and Colac was upgraded to dual lanes but west of Colac the road is a crumbling mess, there are limited overtaking opportunities and then there's sections near Cudgee that have had temporary 80km/h speed limits for more than two years.

Go further west and the road deteriorates further. A couple of recently sealed sections either side of Tower Hill just tease us and remind us of what we are missing elsewhere.

Last month we publicly called on Premier Dan Andrews and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to come to the region and drive our roads.

We will keep asking and nudging them on your behalf until they do.

Their governments have put the highway west of Colac in the too-hard basket and it's time they end the game of political football and come clean on what is, or isn't, happening.

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