Three years after the southern entrance of Kilmore’s Sydney Street began crumbling, locals can finally drive along a newly resurfaced road, thanks to the State Government’s $964 million investment into repairing and maintaining Victoria’s road network.
Long gone are the days of swerving potholes and dodging oncoming traffic along mother nature’s welcome-to-Kilmore rumble strip. Now, residents and passers-by can finally admire the nearby six-figure Kilmore signs, without the risk of ruining a tyre or taking a life.
Contrary to popular belief, Kilmore’s Sydney Street is not controlled nor managed by Mitchell Shire Council, but rather the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP), formerly known as VicRoads.
While the DTP failed to respond to questions regarding when they were first made aware of the road’s deterioration, a quick Google search found that the Review had first published about this section of the road’s ruins on November 7, 2023, in an article titled Roads in ruin: Community cries for change.
According to the article, the surface of the road had been affected by the June 2021 storms, a severe weather event that saw more than 280mm of rain and wind gusts of over 100km per hour take hold of the state during a 48-hour period, and which has been frequently blamed for much of the state’s ongoing road issues.
But Member for Northern Metropolitan Region Evan Mulholland stated the condition of the roads was a result of budget cuts, not weather events.
“Successive years of budget cuts have left our roads in a dire state, and reductions in the resurfacing and rehabilitation program will only see our roads get worse in future,” he said.
“Our roads are crumbling due to funding cuts and neglect—not freak weather events.”
The budget cuts, a result of funding reallocation and freezing to counteract Victoria’s growing debt—forecast to reach $156.2 billion by June 30, 2025—meant that the October 2022 Victorian floods only further exacerbated the issue, leaving some roads in need of near complete reconstruction.
Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland expressed her concern at the delay in maintenance and repairs.
“Every week I am contacted by people in our community who have grave concerns about roads in our region,” she said.
“It’s getting to the point where it would be easier to list which roads haven’t been mentioned. Despite these concerns, Labor has consistently decreased their road maintenance budget while being happy to blame the potholes and crumbling roadsides on bad weather.
“Re-sealing protects the road network against water penetration that causes potholes and damaged roads. By not doing this essential preventive maintenance, this government is creating a ticking time bomb that will rear its head sooner rather than later.”
Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes addressed comments from both parties and stated that she had requested the DTP prioritise Kilmore’s roads.
“It would be disingenuous of Annabelle Cleeland and the Liberal Party to ignore the unprecedented damage repeated flooding and above-average rainfall has caused to our roads,” she said.
“Now that work to completely rebuild our most flood-damaged roads is complete, resurfacing levels will significantly increase during the upcoming maintenance season. This will include roads across Kilmore.
“I’ve been in contact with the DTP to request priority repairs for Kilmore. I will continue to strongly advocate for more to be done to strengthen and maintain our roads here in Kilmore and right across northern Victoria.”
While the DTP did not comment on the cost of the resurfacing works at Kilmore’s southern entrance, nor specify if any considerations had been made to ensure proper drainage and prevent future deterioration of the road, a spokesperson did thank the community for their patience during the repairs, which took under 24 hours to complete.
“We recently completed asphalting works on Sydney Street to create a smoother, more reliable surface for drivers,” they said.
“We thank the local community for their patience while we completed these works as part of our recent road maintenance blitz.”
Additional works are planned for other sections of Kilmore’s Sydney Street later this year.
What a joke the state government departments are. Fix the rest of the street too.