STAFF WRITERS

THE Hyland Highway is in need of urgent repair, according to The Nationals Member for Gippsland South and Shadow Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Danny O’Brien.

Mr O’Brien is urging the state government to speed up the repair of the collapsed section of the Hyland Hwy near Carrajung.

Mr O’Brien said this failed patch of road, dubbed the “ski jump” by some locals, was first reported in April this year and is continuing to deteriorate.

“The highway is understandably now reduced to one lane of traffic with traffic lights in place,” he said.

“Aside from being a headache for regular commuters, it is also very concerning at the real potential for the entire road to begin to slip away. ”

Mr O’Brien said the fact the road has been patched up repeatedly and never properly fixed is a symptom of the ongoing state government budget cuts that have left VicRoads with limited options for fixing major failures like this.

“I have again written to the Minister for Roads (Melissa Horne) demanding a permanent fix as soon as possible,” Mr O’Brien said.

“The Minister must find the resources to ensure this section of road is fixed as efficiently as possible.”

Between now and June 2024, crews will deliver projects across some of the region’s busiest and most important trade and travel routes, including:

Traralgon-Maffra Road;

Hyland Highway;

Maffra-Rosedale Road;

Seaspray Road;

South Gippsland Highway, and;

Dargo Road.

The state government says it is rebuilding and repairing roads right across Central Gippsland as part of its regional road maintenance blitz, one of which includes Highland Hwy.

Across Victoria, hundreds of thousands road maintenance projects will be delivered, thousands of potholes will be patched, tens of thousands of kilometres of roadside grass will be mowed and tens of thousands of signs will be replaced.

The blitz will also ensure other parts of the road network are well-maintained, including strengthening bridges, rebuilding culverts and retaining walls and inspecting and maintaining thousands of traffic lights, signs and other structures.

“This is a welcome investment in regional roads which are vitally important to keep our people and the economy moving,” Member for Eastern Victoria, Tom McIntosh said.

With warmer weather on the way and conditions more suitable for major roadworks, drivers can expect to see hundreds of workers delivering this important work across the state.

It comes on top of a massive maintenance blitz delivered over the past 12 months, which saw more than 1800 kilometres of the state’s roads undergo rebuilding and repair work.

In a first for Victoria, the government says it is delivering $2.8 billion of new investment – a 10-year investment in road maintenance and renewal works, including flood recovery, taking the total spend to at least $6.6 billion over the next decade.

The government says that under this new long-term funding model, more than $770 million will be spent on maintaining the state’s road assets over the next 12 months.

Most funding will go towards repairing roads in regional Victoria, where last year’s flooding and extreme rainfall have caused incredible levels of damage.