By Dongyun Kwon
The community is suffering from the recurring issue of bad quality road conditions, especially whenever heavy rain sweeps over the region.
Yarra Glen resident Louise said she saw many potholes while she was driving and the issue seemed to be an ongoing cycle.
“My husband and I generally travel Melba Highway to Lilydale and through,“ she said.
“Specifically for Melba Highway, when we have a huge downpour similar to what we had last week, we’ve had way worse than that, any potholes that may have already been filled can slowly become unfilled.
“They could fill the potholes today, and then three weeks later we’ll get a heavy downpour of rain and they appear again the next day or after a few days. They need to be repaired to a point where they don’t need to be refilled every time there’s rain.“
Louise works for customer service in the public transport industry where she cannot work from home.
“It’s not an easy fix for us because even if there’s rain and the roads are closed, we still have to go to work.”
She said people want to ensure the safety of their cars and themselves on the roads.
“We’re going to have continued road closures of Melba Highway because of rain and flooding and if Yarra Glen residents are required to travel and take alternative routes to get to their destinations, we also need to ensure these routes are safe for road travellers,” the Yarra Glen resident said.
“We pay insurance but we don’t pay insurance to travel on a road that’s potentially not safe to travel or going to damage our cars.
“We can stop some people from going into the hospital by avoiding car accidents by having our roads top-notch.”
The Victorian Government is investing $6.6 billion into the maintenance of its road assets over 10 years, as part of a multi-year funding approach for a long-term plan and deliver works strategically across the state.
VicRoads needs to wait for drier and warmer conditions in order to carry out the maintenance repairs as cold and wet conditions can jeopardise the effectiveness of any repairs made.
The maintenance crews of VicRoads are continuing to monitor every single kilometre of the arterial road network on a regular basis, delivering short-term repairs where needed and planning for long-term solutions.
They also continue to regularly monitor and assess reported hazards, along with all roads across the Yarra Ranges region, in line with our responsibilities under the Road Management Act.
“We’re finalising a program of works that will repair and rebuild roads across the state, including those in the Yarra Ranges, thanks to a more than $964 million investment to maintain Victoria’s road assets as part of this year’s budget,” a department of transport and planning spokesperson said.
VicRoads has recently completed its 2023-24 road maintenance program, with crews working hard to repair and rebuild roads across the state as part of a $770 million investment by the Victorian Government.
VicRoads encourages road users to report hazards on the arterial road network by calling 13 11 70.
Yarra Ranges Council (YRC) built environment and infrastructure director Hjalmar Philipp said potholes are caused by water seeping into the road through a small hole or crack in the asphalt.
“When cars drive over this area, it causes a pothole to form. Potholes can happen on roads that are in good condition, it’s not the impact of the rain on the surface of the road that is of most concern, it’s the impact on the base levels of the road which wear away quickly once the water gets in,” he said.
“Traffic on wet roads increases the amount of water seeping into minor cracks on the road network, weakening the foundation and creating potholes.
“Reconstruction works need dry weather to ensure all cracks can be sealed. A lot of the work we do throughout the winter months are interim solutions for the safety of road users until conditions allow for a more permanent fix.”
McIntyre Lane is a collector road and the YRC road management team is arranging an inspection.
Edwards Road is a local road, and one section of the road has been rehabilitated last financial year by the council while further sections are to begin this financial year and after.
Victoria Road is a collector road, and two sections have been rehabilitated last year and the year before with further sections planned this year and after.
Coldstream West Road is a collector road, and patching works have been completed in sections and are being monitored.
Hjalmar said not all roads are maintained by the council, thus it is important to report the concern to the correct authority or organisation.
“We rely on community reporting in addition to our proactive inspection program, and we ask community members to report potholes on council roads by calling 1300 368 333 or by lodging a form on our website.,” he said.
“Council has a Road Management Plan which sets out the intervention levels for defects and the timeframe for repair.
“Council-managed roads are classified as collector or local roads and the guidelines are to inspect and repair reported defects that reach intervention level within 20 working days of request lodgement for collector roads and 40 days for a local road.”
