South West Coast’s road network is at crisis point and the State Government needs to provide urgent funding to fix them, MP Roma Britnell says.
Mrs Britnell said the road network has reached breaking point and the region was being crippled by the appalling state of our roads.
“Funding is needed now. There has been a spike in the number of calls about roads to my office after the recent rain. It’s only going to get worse as we head into August,” Mrs Britnell said.
“Something needs to be done now, I have written to Roads Minister Luke Donnellan on numerous occasions and constituents have told me they have done the same.
“But he is ignoring our concerns. The noise is deafening, how can he not be hearing what we are saying?”
Mrs Britnell said the Federal Government had committed $20 million for south-west roads ahead of the Federal Election, but it was dependent on the State Government matching it dollar for dollar.
“The state budget did not allocate one single dollar for road repairs in South West Coast. It’s time for the Minister to listen and fix our roads,” Mrs Britnell said.
“I urge Minister Donnellan to match that commitment, It won’t solve all the problems, but $40 million will be a solid start.”
Mrs Britnell said road repair projects the previous Coalition Government had been budgeted for, but had stalled under Labor.
“The money was there to upgrade and repair numerous local arterial roads and highways including the Heywood – Woolsthorpe Road, Henty Highway, Great Ocean Road, Hopkins Highway, Condah – Hotspur Road, Myamyn – Macarthur Road, Princes Highway and Portland Ring Road,” she said.
“But only two were completed, the others stopped after Labor won government. Where has that money gone?
“The Coalition also made $1 million dollars a year available to local councils through the Country Roads and Bridges program – but that program was abolished by Labor.”
