The detail emerged during the Parliamentary Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings raising the ire of Ovens Valley MP, Tim McCurdy who has repeatedly slammed the Victorian Government for ongoing neglect of regional roads.
Committee evidence also revealed that the department failed to meet its own maintenance targets last financial year, delivering half of the one million square metres of regional road patching it promised.
Mr McCurdy said this year, the government had slashed the target even further to 70,000 square metres.
“These figures are a stark reminder of what every driver across the Ovens Valley already knows,” he said.
“Our roads are crumbling, with potholes, broken edges, rough surface signs on every stretch.
“Families, farmers and emergency services are forced to navigate daily hazards just to get from A to B.
“Regional roads are deteriorating faster than this government is willing, or able to fix them.”
Government data shows more than 200,000 potholes were patched across the 23,000km state-owned road network in 2024/25.
Mr McCurdy said it amounted to one pothole roughly every 100 metres and the endless patch-up approach, instead of real repairs, was proof of systemic neglect.
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