Feds road funding fix disappoints

The Grattan Institute, which produces public policy recommendations on a range of issues, has called for tighter guardrails, and greater transparency, in federal transport funding.

Read more: Greater federal transport funding transparency required, says Grattan Institute

The Institute's Transport and Cities program senior associate Dr Ingrid Burfurd said the federal government should not commit to projects which cost more than $100 million, without the Infrastructure Minister first considering an evaluation by Infrastructure Australia.

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Rural Councils Victoria chair Mary-Ann Brown said it was disappointing the federal government's recent announcement of $150 million to fix 33 remote roads across the country largely targeted NSW and Qld.

The government announced $21.04m for funding of two Victorian roads, the Chatsworth-Woondoo road, in Moyne Sire, and money for the Mansfield area.

"Not only is that disappointing for Victoria, but other states as well," Cr Brown said.

"There is a process that could be used, that's transparent, has some rigour about it and delivers really good results.

"That's what governments, of whatever persuasion, should be using."

She questioned why organisations like Infrastructure Australia existed if their 'sound advice' was not being followed.

"We are not interested in picking political sides but there is a shortfall in funding for both maintenance by VicRoads and local roads as well."

Cr Brown said it was disappointing there appeared to have been very few promises on road funding for regional Victoria, from the government or opposition, so far during the election campaign.

The RCV says as Victoria made up just over 25pc cent of Australia's population, about 25 per cent of the Roads to Recovery funding - or $200m a year - should be available to the state.

A spokesman for deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said the projects funded under the Remote Roads Upgrade Pilot Program were brought forward by local councils and assessed by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.

"When considered in the context of the number of projects put forward for consideration across the state, Victoria has done well under this funding round,' the spokesman said.

"This funding builds on the $35.5 billion we've committed towards 271 major infrastructure projects in Victoria since 2013."

Lucas Puckle operates three trucks out of his Hopetoun property in the Mallee electorate.

"The biggest thing I notice is the difference when you go out of Victoria and into other states is that we are definitely the worst for country roads," Mr Puckle said.

He said the Henty Highway, which runs from Mildura to Portland, was "terrible".

"It's getting that far now it's hard to see how they are going to get back on top of it."

Mr Puckle, a hay and grain grower, said he carted produce to end users, such as dairy farmers or to Portland.

"The shoulders on the bitumen roads, which come past our house, are getting particularly bad.

"The cost of maintenance on our trucks is going up and the roads are just dangerous.

"There's the old saying, our vehicles have to be roadworthy, and we spend a lot of money keeping them that way, but the roads aren't truckworthy."

Mr Puckle said the state government was prepared to 'put us over hot coals over a spelling mistake in a logbook' but that had nothing to do with safety on the roads.

He said uneven wear on tyres was a big issue.

"I had uneven wear and I thought it might have been because I was running old trailers, but I have new trailers and I am still having a bit of trouble.

"We are not getting full wear out of our tyres."

In the north-west, Mallee Nationals MP Anne Webster has announced more funding for a road, long the subject to complaints by local residents.

Ms Webster said crews had started work on a $12 million of upgrades on the Robinvale-Sea Lake Road, jointly funded by the federal and state governments.

In 2019, VicRoads reduced the speed limit on the road to 80 kilometres an hour.

Ms Webster said the upgrades would see several narrower sections widened and resurfaced between Robinvale and Sea Lake, providing two traffic lanes and road shoulders.

Safety barriers would be built on steep embankments and raised line-marking (rumble strips) installed to give an audible sound when vehicles drive on the lines.

Ms Webster said a further $1.56 million had been spent upgrading the Hattah-Robinvale Road and Robinvale-Sea Lake Road Bannerton intersection to reduce heavy vehicle operating costs, support traffic growth and improve safety.

"We've also delivered $10 million toward the $20 million Calder Highway upgrades between Bendigo and Mildura, improving safety and travel times through the region,"Ms Webster said.

But Manangatang grain grower Brian Barry junior said he felt the announcement on the Robinvale-Sea Lake road might have been already made.

"I thought that was preexisting funding, I think (governments) make a habit of double and triple announcements, to get their money's worth.

"They have replaced about five kilometres of road, south of us at Cocamba, and it's beautiful, shining and wonderful.

"North of Manangatang nothing has happened, there is paint on the road and pegs and so forth - I don't know when they are coming back to do the rest of it."

He said it was pleasing to see the 100kph speed limit restored.

'It was critical to get our speed limit back again, it really knocked the hell out of the town (Manangatang).

"The shoulders are not as bad as they were, when they dropped the speed limit, so the work they did made a difference as far as making the edges safer."

The other concern was the need for greater road train access.

"We have roads that can't take a road train, leading to a bridge that can and roads that are road train rated, leading to bridges that aren't."

Loddon shire Tarnagulla ward councillor Linda Jungwirth said councils were being unfairly blamed for funding priorities, which rightly lay at the feet of state and federal governments.

She said she had grave concerns about the Wimmera Highway, where it met the Bridgewater-Maldon road.

"I believe that was earmarked to be fixed, I believe there was funding allocated for that to be fixed."

"When I contacted VicRoads and requested a response, I heard nothing back - and that would be a year ago."

She said residents spoke to councillors 'all the time' about the condition of the roads.

"We are often being blamed for potholes, that are nothing to do us - it's VicRoads."

Cr Jungwirth said she felt council did a 'fairly good job' of keeping on top of the roads it was responsible for.

Victorian Roads Minister Ben Carroll said the federal government needed to deliver the state its fair share of infrastructure spending

"Road maintenance will always remain a priority for our government," Mr Carroll said.

"Since September, we have had crews out across the state working hard to rebuild, repair and resurface more than 1,400 kilometres of the arterial network.

"Our major transport investments across road and rail are also delivering for regional economies, keeping people connected and farmers linked to trade opportunities, also supporting jobs right across the supply chain, from workers on the ground through to suppliers based right across the state."

Since 2018, the government said it had rebuilt and resurfaced more than 6,800 kilometres of roads across Victoria.