Gippsland roads featured heavily in the list of Victoria’s worst roads as tallied from thousands of votes in the Liberals and Nationals’ worst road campaign.
The Nationals Member for Gippsland South and Shadow Minister for Roads, Danny O’Brien said he was not surprised by the results given what he sees regularly while on the road throughout his electorate.
“There are so many roads in need of work across the state and we’ll now be forwarding the list to the Roads Minister for his attention,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Labor has been in charge of our road network for 19 of the past 23 years and must take responsibility for its failures.”
Gippsland’s Great Alpine Road was awarded the unwanted title of Victoria’s worst road due to its sharp drops, landslips and crumbling road surface followed closely by the Princes Highway – with many citing the stretch from Sale to Bairnsdale in their submissions.
Mr O’Brien said other Gippsland roads featured in the top twenty included the Traralgon-Maffra Road, Paynesville Road and Sale-Toongabbie Road with respondents often highlighting the poor state of road surfaces as their number one complaint.
“Other roads to feature prominently in the voting included the South Gippsland Highway, the Bass Highway south of Leongatha and the Meeniyan-Promontory Road.
“Labor cut the road maintenance budget by 10 per cent in its first year of government and has continued to neglect our roads ever since,” Mr O’Brien said.
“It was cut by a further $24 million in this year’s budget after a $191 million cut last year. These cuts have left us with unsafe roads right around the state.
“The Nationals have committed to bringing back the Country Roads and Bridges program that helps upgrade local council roads and we’ll also deliver Australia’s first Regional Infrastructure Funding Guarantee to ensure regional Victoria gets its fair share.”