She is the first roads minister to visit the region in four years and she acknowledged the strain the region's roads were under with increased traffic taking a toll.

She emphasised there was about $11 million worth of maintenance under way on the region's roads but there was always more to do.

"Your weather is inclement. It's the wettest part of the state. You've got more trucks than most parts of the state and you've got geographical conditions that make it really challenging," Ms Horne said.

"That's why I've really valued my time coming down and talking to people so I can then go back and do that really important advocacy.

"I'm acutely aware that we're between two major ports ... Port of Portland and the Port of Geelong - roads are doing so much more than they ever used to because trucks are bigger, they're heavier, they're carting more goods." She said while increased traffic was good for the local economy because it meant we were exporting more, it also came with "subsequent wear and tear" on the road network.

"There's always more work to be done because there is a lot of challenges down here," Ms Horne said.

Challenges indeed.

The problem is the challenges she refers to are not new. They have been challenges for the past 15 years and regardless of which party is in power, we are seemingly no closer to a plan let alone solutions.

This week's federal budget delivered no hope. And the state budget, due to be handed down later in the month, is unlikely to contain any good news if Premier Dan Andrews' comments are anything to go by. He is predicting "some pain" after the state racked up debt during the COVID pandemic.

"We borrowed money, an enormous amount of money, we had to, to save jobs and to save lives. And just as there was really no option but to get that money then, there's no option but to pay it back," he said this week.

So Ms Horne's visit and vow to do "that really important advocacy" is critical. It's always disappointing when a minister makes a rare visit to the region and makes no funding announcements, something South West Coast MP, the opposition's roads spokeswoman Roma Britnell, attacked. "It is simply not good enough for the Minister to 'stand ready to do more' while our community suffers from a dangerous and poorly maintained road network," she said, calling for the minister to provide necessary funding to fix our roads.

Roads weren't Ms Horne's only focus during the visit but there's no doubt she left knowing roads are one of our biggest issues and next time, we hope she returns with solutions. Just when that will be is anyone's guess given the state's finances but surely it won't be in another four years. Simply we can't wait any longer, our roads need to be fixed.