‘Closed, ripped up and relaid’: More than 2500 sign petition to fix Barmah-Shepparton Rd

Motocyclist Jaye Munn died on the road after hitting a pothole at Kaarimba on her motorbike on New Year’s Eve, leading to an outpouring of grief for her and anger over inaction on fixing the road.

More than 2500 residents have signed a petition to be sent to Victorian Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne which urged the government to fix “appalling” roads in the region.

“Those who travel the section of road for their work, explaining it is very dangerous has fallen on deaf ears with little to no action being taken,” the petition said.

“Meanwhile, those who travel the section of road, suffer from damaged cars from the potholes.”

Despite regular heavy usage and the recent flooding, Mrs van Luenen, who was involved in putting the petition together, said the road had been neglected by the authorities.

“There hasn’t been a lot of action taken in regard to the state of the road ... money seems to be going to city roads and the regional roads have been left in a disgraceful state.” Mrs van Luenen said.

According to Mrs van Luenen, Barmah-Shepparton Rd was in a poor condition before the floods, but since then the road has been riddled with potholes.

“The area of the Barmah-Shepparton Rd between Prentices Rd and Hicks Rd, a roughly 3km stretch, is arguably the worst with deep potholes located on both sides of the road as well as sometimes in the middle” Mrs van Luenen said.

She said further down, the road between Hicks Rd and Sandilands Rd was also damaged.

She contacted Regional Roads Victoria, which she told her the roads were regularly checked over and patrol crews would be repairing and inspecting potholes on Barmah-Shepparton Rd until permanent repairs could be undertaken.

She said RRV went on to say there were permanent dig out works programmed to occur over the next few weeks which would eliminate any defects.

Mrs van Luenen said the road should be temporarily closed, ripped up and relaid and in the meantime traffic should be reduced to one lane with temporary traffic lights installed between at least Prentices Rd and Hicks Rd.

“They have been doing bandaid repairs, however the road returns to its dangerous conditions within 24 to 48 hours,” she said.

Since getting into contact with both RRV, workmen have started undertaking repairs with temporary traffic lights installed and the road being partially reduced to one lane with a 40km speed limit.

Ms van Luenen said she wanted to thank everyone for their assistance and contribution in getting the dangerous road conditions issue raised with the appropriate authorities.

“This has been a great community effort by all involved,” she said.

State Member for Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe has also weighed in on the Barmah-Shepparton Rd following the fatal accident on the road on New Year’s Eve, saying something needed to be done about the state of the region’s roads immediately.

“It’s so frustrating,” Ms O’Keeffe said.

“The roads are in a critical, unsafe, state. To think that we’ve had a death for it to be highlighted is so upsetting.”

Ms O’Keeffe said road authorities should be working closer with councils and communities on its dangerous roads.