Kilmore pothole battle endures over time

If they wait till Kilmore Streets are passable, I fear they may wait six months.

But you will say why don’t they mend these streets? That is a question, the answer to which is that everybody is too busy, and the government too careless.

Those opening paragraphs were not written this week, nor were they written last month. They were penned by author, William Howitt, over 150 years ago.

It would appear from Mr Howitt’s account that the only thing that has changed over the intervening years is the depth of the potholes.

“You would not believe it,” Mr Howitt wrote. “But we know that it is true, we have it from the most direct authority, that a young gentleman, Mr Curr, actually lost his horse staked on a bullock’s horns in these streets.”

Apparently, the bullock had sunk into one of the mud holes in the middle of Sydney Street and Mr Curr’s horse stumbled into the same hole.

While the holes may be a little shallower and the outcomes of driving into them not as gruesome – the frustrations of the community seem to be at a similar level to those in 1870.

Motorists entering Kilmore on the Northern Highway from the south are suddenly met with the feeling they are driving on the surface of the moon as they negotiate craters on the road.

Around 12 months ago the Review reported on the Sydney Street road art with a purpose when a concerned resident used bright pink paint to warn road users of the many potholes.

The resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he painted only a quarter of the potholes he intended to circle before running out of the fluorescent pink paint.

In Wallan residents also took a novel approach creating the Wallan Botanic Gardens in one of the town’s sizeable craters.

Is anything being done to fix the problem? Well, according to the Mitchell Shire Council Road Management Plan, something is. Back in 2021 the Plan spelled out the legislative requirements of the Road Management Act and the strategic directions adopted by the Council.

The Plan identified responsibilities, maintenance standards and inspection regimes required to manage civil liability and demonstrate that Council, as the road authority, is responsively managing all the road assets under its control.

In light of that, perhaps Mr Howitt should be given the last words in this article when he wrote; “Everybody is too busy, and the government too careless.”