Poor state of south-west Victorian roads raising safety, tyre damage concerns

In the 2019 Barwon and South West Dairy Supply Chain study, the five southwest Victorian councils asked for $317.5 million, over the next decade.

But the state government committed only $17 million, over four years, in the 2020-21 budget, while federal authorities put in $17.5m federal funding, in May last year.

Independent transport consultant Tony Noske said he had been involved in logistics in the region for about 55 years.

"The quality of the roads is having a massive impact on road safety and the ability of people to find drivers because people just don't want to drive trucks on those roads," Mr Noske said.

"The region between Geelong, north to Ballarat and to the South Australian border, would be high up there as having the worst roads in the state.

"It's a very safe Liberal area, so the Liberals don't spend any money down there and Labor doesn't spend any money there either, because they are not going to win any votes."

The council study estimated the region was responsible for 24 per cent of Australia's milk production and 27pc of its exports.

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Corangamite shire mayor Councillor Ruth Gstrein said much of the money that had been spent so far had gone on resealing and intersection works at town entrances.

"Those works desperately needed to be done" Cr Gstrein said.

But she said that was only a start and significant work needed to be carried out on routes such as the Cobden-Stoneyford, Cobden-Warrnambool and Darlington roads.

"The Darlington road (between the Hamilton and Princes highways) is a major spine for production but significant lengths of it are only single lane," Cr Gstrein said.

"There are drop-offs in the shoulders which are 10-15 centimetres deep on a road that carries B-Doubles and school buses."

The council study estimated the region was responsible for 24 per cent of Australia's milk production and 27pc of its exports.

Earthmoving and heavy plant operator WA Molan & Sons managing director Peter Molan said the Cobden-Terang road was particularly bad.

It carried a heavy volume of B-Doubles, hay, grain and fertiliser trucks.

"Nearly all the northern traffic uses this road to go through to Heytesbury and the southern region," Mr Molan said.

"This road is rough and narrow with no shoulders, this weakens tyres and is hard on the trucks and drivers."

Mr Molan said there were a number of school buses also used the route.

"It's as rough as guts, its got no shoulder and its narrow and its dangerous," he said.

He said he was 62 years old and the road hadn't been properly done up in his lifetime.

"It's hard on equipment, hard on everything." Mr Molan said.

"It's nerve-wracking along there, you come along and suddenly there is no shoulder - there is no room for any give or take.

"If you have a hay truck, which is four bales high, they don't want to drop a wheel off the road because it lurches out to the left and makes it unstable.

"Cattle trucks are the same - if you meet someone the other way, you have to hang on and hope for the best."

He said governments could spend the amount of money they had allocated "just filling the potholes.

"The whole road network around here is falling behind, they are not catching up or improving it, it's falling behind," he said.

Another transport operator, who declined to be named, said the cost of general repairs and maintenance for trucks and trailers in the south-west was 20 per cent higher than for northern Victoria.

"Repairs and maintenance should cost nine to 10pc of the budget - in the south-west its up to 20pc."

The state government says it's recently spent nearly $4 million on rebuilding 3.7 kilometres of the Lavers Hill-Cobden road, in one of the biggest maintenance upgrades in the south-west.

The work involved resealing the surface between Cobden and Jancourt East and installing safety barriers.

Roads Minister Ben Carroll said the $3.9m pavement rehabilitation would benefit one thousand daily motorists, particularly freight operators who made up 20 per cent of the daily users of the route.

The work was carried out under the government's $115 million Inland Routes Program, which was improving a number of connecting inland roads between the Great Ocean Road and Princes Highway.

"The works along Lavers Hill-Cobden Road have increased safety and improved reliability for all road users in the southwest," Mr Carroll said.

"As one of the biggest road maintenance upgrades in the region over the past year, we are supporting farmers and freight operators getting their products from paddock to plate."