Figures provided to Victorian State Parliament show that the money spent on road resurfacing and resealing contracts in the 2023/24 financial year was just 18 per cent of the previous year, dropping $163.8 million across the state.
Member for Mildura, Jade Benham, said while road surfaces across the state are already disastrous, this dramatic drop in basic maintenance will condemn Victorians to worse roads in future.
“These figures highlight the drastic budget cuts that have seen our roads deteriorate dramatically over the past few years,” said Ms Benham.
“We’ve gotten to a point where the government’s own survey last year revealed 91 per cent of roads were in poor or very poor condition with the remaining nine per cent only listed as ‘fair’.
The National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) conducted the survey for the Department of Transport across the state’s road network.
Concerns about road surface issues have been longstanding and last financial year contributed to nearly 1200 claims received by the Department of Transport and Planning for property damage.
Image: https://pixabay.com/photos/asphalt-crack-background-line-road-315756/
