Regional Roads Victoria has announced dozens of minor road repair projects across the south-west over the coming months.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In an updated repair schedule released in December, the sub-branch of VicRoads said "patching" work would take place across the region.
"Major patching work will be a significant part of this year's program in the Barwon South West region," the announcement said.
"We're prioritising these works on some of Barwon South West's critical freight and travel routes, ensuring people and goods can keep moving across Victoria."
According to road engineering contractors, road patching is a maintenance activity designed to restore the surface of a sealed road by filling a pothole with asphalt premix.
VicRoads is still catching up on repair work from widespread flooding during the past two years. The December update listed a range of south-west projects scheduled under the state's Flood Recovery Program.
Major roads to receive patching and flood recovery attention include the Princes, Glenelg and Hamilton highways and Great Ocean Road.
Sections of the Princes Highway have had speed limits permanently reduced because of the state of the road surface while Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano has called the Hamilton Highway a "death trap".
The state government revealed in November it had given up trying to produce a road repair target for the 2023-24 year, citing the damage from the previous year's floods as the reason. Meanwhile, a study released by public policy think tank the Grattan Institute showed regional roads were being short-changed by $1 billion.
The state government has pledged $6.6 billion over the coming decade for road maintenance. Analysis by The Standard suggested about $5 billion of that would be spent on regional roads, which is less than the amount being spent on a 6.5 kilometre upgrade of Melbourne's Eastern Freeway.
In early 2023 the state government tore up its various regional road maintenance contracts and replaced them with strict performance-based arrangements, although they rehired the same contractors to do the repairs.
Under the new contracts, the contractors have to show they can complete smaller repair projects to an appropriate standard before Regional Roads Victoria assigns more significant projects.
According to the December update, in Corangamite Shire crews will repair potholes on:
- Camperdown-Lismore Road just north of Chocolyn and at Wiridgil Road, Camperdown
- Cobden-Stoneyford Road west of Thorntons Road East, Cobden
- Hamilton Highway at Berrybank-Wallinduc Road
- Lavers Hill-Cobden Road just north of Timboon-Colac Road
- Princes Highway at Bowen Street, Camperdown
- Timboon-Nullawarre Road east of Glenfyne-Brucknell Road, Timboon.
In Moyne Shire they will be patching:
- Hamilton Highway just south of Edgars Road, Derrinallum, just north of Six Mile Lane, Mortlake, and at Gibson Street, Caramut
- Macarthur-Penshurst Road just north of Boundary Street, Macarthur
- Princes Highway just west of Great Ocean Road, Allansford
- Warrnambool-Caramut Road at Whittons Lane, Winslow
In Glenelg Shire works were scheduled for:
- Glenelg Highway at Lodge Road, Casterton
- Princes Highway just south of Golf Course Road, Heywood
- Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road, just east of Troeths Lane, Heywood
Meanwhile, in Corangamite Shire flood recovery works will occur on:
- Ayersford Road just south of Princes Highway, Terang
- Cobden-Terang Road at Ewens Hill Road, Cobrico
- Darlington-Camperdown Road from Newminster Road, Bookaar, to just south of the Hamilton Highway, Darlington
- Great Ocean Road west of Booringa Road, Princetown, west of London Bridge car park, Peterborough, and just west of Timboon-Peterborough Road, Peterborough
- Lismore-Skipton Road from just north of Hamilton Highway, Lismore, to just south of Glenelg Highway, Skipton
- Mackinnons Bridge-Noorat Road between Princes Highway and Pontings Road, Noorat East and between Terang-Mortlake Road and Glenormiston Road, Noorat
- Princes Highway just west and just east of Hawks Nest Road, Pirron Yallock, east of Swan Marsh-Stonyford Road, Pirron Yallock, east of Craigs Lane, Stonyford, at Wiridgil Lane, Weerite, between Ayresford Road and Coombes Road, Terang, between Meiklejohn Street and Bowen Street, Camperdown, and east of Mackinnons Bridge Road, Terang
- Terang-Mortlake Road at Riley Road, Terang and north of Factory Lane, Noorat
In Moyne Shire there will be flood recovery works on:
- Commercial Road between Commercial Place and Spring Street, Koroit
- Great Ocean Road between Rowans Road and just Bartons Road, Nullawarre, and between Blair Street and Old Peterborough Road, Peterborough
- Hamilton Highway north of Boonerah Estate Road, Mortlake, south of Castle Carey Road, Hexham, west of Woolsthorpe-Hexham Road, Hexham, just east of Four Mile Road, Caramut, just west of Barwidgee Road, Caramut, and just west of Blackwood-Dunkeld Road, Penshurst
- Mortlake-Ararat Road east of Hexham-Woorndoo Road, Woorndoo
- Terang-Mortlake Road just south of Mortlake-Framlingham Road, Mortlake
- Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road just west of Penshurst-Warrnambool Road to Nardoo Creek, Hawkesdale
In Glenelg Shire flood recovery works will be done on:
- Glenelg Highway from Carapook Road, Carapook, to Shadys Lane, Coleraine
Ben Silvester
Correspondent covering key issues across regional Victoria, based in Melbourne.
Correspondent covering key issues across regional Victoria, based in Melbourne.
