Liberal Party pledges $1b a year to fix crumbling roads

Liberal leader Matthew Guy said the party was committed to spending $1 billion a year over 10 years on maintenance to make Victorian roads safer.

Mr Guy said the Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road, where the announcement was made, was the epicentre of the problem when it came to road maintenance in the state.

"Our roads are falling apart," he said.

"We're going to fix the problem of maintenance on our roads. We can not let this go on any further. It is unsafe, it is not right and needs to be fixed.

"The roads are falling apart, we need a solution.

"The solution is our policy - $1 billion dollars in road maintenance funding for 10 years to fix the problem."

Mr Guy said road maintenance funding had been cut under Daniel Andrews to the tune of $200 million.

As a consequence roads were falling apart, particularly in country and regional Victoria, he said, and $1 billion every year for 10 years would go a long way to fix the problem.

Mr Guy said the government had no excuse for poor roads having been in office for eight years.

"The Premier has been there longer than Steve Bracks, longer than Jeff Kennett," he said.

"They've had eight years to fix this problem."

When the Liberal Party asked for people to nominate the worst roads in the state, Mr Guy said the south-west featured heavily.

Across Victoria there were many examples of unsafe roads, he said.

Mr Guy said the funding for the $1 billion promise would come from consolidated revenue.

"We have to do what's within our means. We know $1 billion is a lot of money but it is within our means, it's sensible, it's reasonable."

Mr Guy said it would go a long way to fixing the backlog of road maintenance, especially in regional Victoria.

South West Coast Roma Britnell said the funding was just one part of the solution.

"We need to fix them and fix them properly. We know how to build roads, It's about making sure the road is done properly," she said.

"We need to have the roads built to a standard and we will make sure that standard is adhered to.

"We will make sure we fund the roads properly and we will make sure we build them to a standard that holds up for decades, not falls apart within weeks."

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