Locals in the MidCoast Council area are fed up with the state of our rotten roads.

It’s gone beyond potholes and crumbling bitumen to seriously huge holes and seriously dangerous conditions.

The number of accidents, road kill and damage to vehicles has escalated to a frightening degree.  The cost of repairs to peoples’ vehicles, often repairing roads themselves, is now too prohibitive.  

Roadworks are slow to be done, and too often in a pretty shoddy manner resulting in road sections falling into disrepair after the first bout of rain. Nothing seems to be repaired properly. A bucket of whatever tipped into a crater and stamped down with a boot doesn’t last long. Sign posts are damaged turned the wrong way or missing.

Crashes, near misses and serious accidents are increasing alarmingly.  Roads like Tinonee Road and those off the main grid, become racetracks, ending often in accidents.  Bucketts Way and Lakes Way have high danger reputations.

A growing alarm from residents is the explosion of heavy duty vehicles barrelling along these quiet roads, which, while killing wildlife, trash the road surface and cause damage, noise and are dangerous. 

Most these vehicles are taking short cuts or avoiding main road traffic. Many are drivers paid by the trip who rocket to the tip or wherever and back as fast as they can, even overtaking stationery cars waiting to allow cattle to cross. 

Two thirds of crashes and fatalities occur in rural and regional areas.

Council promises and repair negligence count for little when one loses a family member due to the poor and dangerous conditions when they were just going down the road to get the paper. 

Each year council promises to do about $60M in roads yet they under-deliver by $20m which is carried over year after year and they never catch up.

If we knew the rise in our rates was actually going to fix things, we wouldn’t whinge. But when nothing seems to change except that we fork out for zilch, it’s pretty frustrating being told everything at council is exceeding expectations.

DM