Gradual road improvement

THE state of many South Gippsland roads is unacceptable and dangerous, a view backed by Cr Mick Felton at Wednesday’s council meeting.

He highlighted the plight of some shire residents forced to make do with unsealed roads, which become treacherous in wet conditions.

However, financial constraints hamper efforts to improve the situation, with council committing to the aim of adding two kilometres of sealed road to the shire each year.

There are currently 1,300 kilometres of unsealed road throughout the shire.

Council has budgeted for an expansion of its re-sheeting program for gravel roads, adding an additional 20 kilometres to the existing program at a cost of $500,000.

The unsealed section of Canavans Road, Mount Eccles continues to cause angst among its residents, many of whom contributed their signatures to a petition to have that section sealed.

That request was knocked back at the April council meeting, with councillors voting unanimously to support advice to program road maintenance on the relevant unsealed section of Canavans Road, including re-sheeting.

The advice was prompted by insufficient traffic using the road to meet requirements to seal an unsealed road, and by the prohibitive costs to do so.

Canavans Road resident Len Price on Tuesday expressed disappointment on the likely outcome of councillors’ votes on the issue, which was confirmed the following day.

“Yesterday morning the road was treacherous after 5mm of rain,” he said.

Mr Price expressed concern that the poor condition of the road necessitates driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid potholes.

He said that while local drivers know to proceed at a sensible speed on the winding unsealed stretch of Canavans Road, others travel at dangerous speeds making an accident likely.

The road is used by a school bus, as well as milk tankers and stock trucks.

While Cr Felton acknowledged his past tentative support for sealing Canavans Road “as long as it stacks up”, he said that to do so would not “pass the pub test”.

“It’s unfortunately one of those things where there’s not enough traffic on the road to be sealing it,” Cr Felton said.

He said the projected $2.96 million cost of doing so could not be justified.

Mr Price believes council’s priorities need to change so that more of ratepayers’ contribution is spent on core council responsibilities, including roads, rubbish and local recreation.

He argues too much of ratepayers’ money goes into other areas that should be covered by state or federal government funding.

“I’m on Canavans Road now and it’s terrible,” Mr Price said after hearing about Wednesday’s council verdict on its more than seven-kilometre unsealed section.

He sent the Sentinel-Times photos showing the road’s poor condition and said it will continue to deteriorate over the coming weeks with the effects of further rain and traffic.