Factual. Independent. Impartial.
Support AAP with a free or paid subscription
Politics
Emily Woods

Pothole poll pledge to secure state's roads

Labor has pledged to prioritise the repair of half a million potholes on Victorian roads. (Dan Peled/AAP PHOTOS)

Potholes will be taken to the polls as a state's premier pledges $352 million to fix half a million holes, while the opposition says it's too little too late.

Victorian Labor Premier Ben Carroll has announced delays to the completion of three level crossings to double the number of potholes fixed on the state's roads.

"The condition of our roads is not good enough," Mr Carroll said on Sunday.

Ben Carroll
Victorian Premier Ben Carroll is not happy with the condition of the state's roads. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)

"I respect your money and I have made commonsense decisions to show how we can afford it."

He said planners had identified $112 million in savings by deferring the completion of level crossing removals in Highett and Mentone by one year, which will be added to the state budget's $1.4 billion allocation for roads.

Doubling the number of potholes fixed from 250,000 to 500,000 within the next financial year will cost the state $352 million, he said.

"This is part of my new direction: to spend our money wisely, to focus relentlessly on the basics, and that is what I'm here to do," Mr Carroll told reporters.

He said most of the potholes will be removed when the weather is driest, in the second half of this year and into January.

Key Victorian arterial roads will be prioritised, including the Geelong Ring Road, Western Highway, Calder Highway and Princes Highway, and regional roads.

One of regional Victoria's pothole-ridden roads, which was fixed after accidents were reported. (Allanah Sciberras/AAP VIDEO)

Shadow Minister for Police Brad Battin questioned the timing of Mr Carroll's announcement, given an election is set for November 28, and claimed Labor had "neglected" roads for 12 years.

"Five minutes before an election and all of a sudden Ben Carroll has found there's potholes in Victoria," he told reporters on Sunday.

"And now he's come out with a small patch fix for a major problem in Victoria."

In July, the Liberal-National opposition pledged to invest $5 billion over four years to repair and rebuild Victoria's roads, including the elimination of one million potholes.

Their plan involves a 25 per cent increase on current spending.

Victorian voter's top concerns about re-electing Labor were corruption and integrity failures, financial mismanagement and debt, union influence and crime, according to a poll released by Roy Morgan on August 11.

Regional neglect including poor roads ranked at four per cent of voter concerns in the polling.

License this article

Sign up to read this article for free
Choose between a free or paid subscription to AAP News
Start reading
Already a member? Sign in here
Top stories on AAP right now