Three Victorian Liberal candidates — Cheryl Hammer (Shepparton), Brad Hearn (Euroa), and Richard Welch (Yan Yean) — have joined together to highlight the need for more investment in country roads.
The trio said the poor state of regional roads was a significant issue for electorates outside Melbourne.
The candidates said the current blitz proposed by the Victorian Government wasn’t enough to patch “years of neglect”.
Ms Hammer, Mr Hearn and Mr Welch said some repairs on major roads lasted just a week, and other necessary works had been ignored.
Ms Hammer said she had travelled around the electorate to see unsafe roads first-hand.
“Some of the holes in these roads are so deep, people are experiencing major damage to their cars, and blowing tyres is a common occurrence,” Ms Hammer said.
“I witnessed myself a woman being thrown to the wrong side of the road after hitting a hole on the Doyles Rd ring road near Grahamvale. It is just so dangerous.
“The answer is not a ‘slow down to 40 km/h’ sign, we need to repair and rebuild our road network for safety and liveability in our region.”
Mr Hearn said he was committed to improving the roads that connected our country communities by taking real action.
“Improving country roads is about improving safety for all road users and connecting our great towns together, making it easier to commute to work, learn and explore,” he said.
“Dropping the speed on essential highways rather then fixing the road and investing in the infrastructure demonstrates the neglect experienced in regional Victoria.
“It takes a strong rural voice to get positive change for our communities, and I am proud to stand side by side with Cheryl and Richard in calling for a bigger commitment to improving our country roads.”
Mr Welch said he was passionate about providing support to all road users.
“Our roads were never designed for the volume of traffic that we have now,” he said.
“They are basically country roads that are falling apart under the growth in population, the lack of investment in basic infrastructure and broken promises.”