Southern Cross resident Geoff Sharp drives to Warrnambool on a daily basis. He also regularly travels to Port Fairy and Koroit.

Mr Sharp told The Standard on Monday, January 8, 2024, potholes were littered along the highway following heavy rainfall across the weekend.

"It's going to be a matter of time with the way the roads are that someone will lose their life," he said.

"Just coming in today, it's really bad just before the overtaking lane.

"Then just after the overtaking lane there's about 15 massive holes that have opened up to Dennington.

"If a small car hits it or an old person (driver), I'd hate to see what happens."

Mr Sharp said he had spent $5000 in the past five or six years for repairs to his car after it was damaged by potholes.

"It's setting me back every time I hit the holes and it's just not worth it," he said.

"They (the government) should have to refund me if the roads have caused the damage to my car."

The Standard understands a road authority was only liable to pay compensation if it had not met its obligations under the Road Management Act.

Mr Sharp said if cars had to be roadworthy, the roads had to be car-worthy.

"We pay our registrations for a reason," he said.

"Why do we have to keep our cars roadworthy if the roads are like that?"

Mr Sharp called on Roads and Road Safety minister Melissa Horne to visit the region, even offering to pay for the petrol for the trip.

The Standard contacted Ms Horne, receiving a response from a Victorian government spokesman.

The spokesman said the state government was rebuilding, repairing and resurfacing hundreds of Victorian roads through an investment of more than $770 million to maintain Victoria's road assets this financial year.

He said the majority of the funding would be spent in regional Victoria.

During a visit to Warrnambool in May 2023 Ms Horne said she was "acutely" aware of the strain the region's roads were under with increased traffic taking its toll.

A Warrnambool City Council spokesman said several reports of road damage were made on Monday morning.

"At this stage it appears there is no significant damage to any areas of our network, with potholes the extent of the damage," the council spokesman said.

"Our crews will work to repair these, and any other instances we encounter or that are reported to us, as soon as possible.

"As we have not received any reports of significant damage at this stage, the costs will be covered by our operational budget."

The Standard recently reported Regional Roads Victoria had announced dozens of minor road repair projects across the south-west over the coming months.

In an updated repair schedule released in December 2023, 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.

The announcement further stated priority was placed on works on some of Barwon South West's critical freight and travel routes.