Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, has renewed calls in State Parliament for the government to pause the road barrier program between Bairnsdale and Stratford, following the decision to abandon the installation of centre barriers on Paynesville Road.
“I stress that I am not opposed to barriers being installed in the right locations, but in relation to priorities in the region, this is not hitting the target,” Mr Bull said.
“We have barriers being installed in areas along the highway adjacent to flat open paddocks, where if you ran off the road, all you would hit is a sheep if you were unlucky.
“This while we have areas like the Great Alpine Road that are heavily treed or have cliff-face drop-offs and need barriers – but are getting nothing.
“Quite simply, where would you prefer a barrier if you were to run off the road – stopping you from entering a flat open paddock, or stopping you from hitting a large tree or going off a cliff face?
“So what I am asking is that in these areas we have a rethink, like occurred on the Paynesville Road, and allow common sense to prevail.”
Mr Bull also raised the condition of the Princes Highway between Stratford and Sale where new road works are being completed.
“The Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien, and I, have been inundated with complaints about how a new section of road can be so bad, crumbling within months of being laid,” Mr Bull said.
“Then even the repairs have failed. New roads should not crumble like that. VicRoads must hold its contractors to higher levels of road building and not make lame excuses about weather being the cause.
“Former (older) roads board workers have told me we have had no extreme weather events outside normal summer temperatures that should have caused that level of failure and I tend to agree with them,” he said.
