General News
5 August, 2022
All roads still leading to harvest horrors
The roads are a mess, and harvest traffic is looming
Farmers and truck drivers are raising concerns about the condition of the region's roads and how it will affect community safety with harvest fast approaching.
In the May 30 edition of The Argus, local farmer Brian* spoke about his experience losing control in loose gravel that had been spread across the Birchip-Rainbow Road - a main transportation route - to cover up potholes.
“I take that road because the Warrack Road is too dangerous with trucks coming at you, especially after all this rain, and you can’t get off the road,” he said.
“There were no signs, just the same old ones that have been there for ages. No warnings, no ‘slow down’ (signs). I hit that stuff going 100 kilometres an hour and ended up off the road.”
This week Brian said that, while the loose gravel had been swept away, the road itself was no better.
“You can see where they smeared the tar randomly in a kind of squiggly pattern,” he said.
“I don’t know what they thought that would hold together, but it didn’t hold the gravel, and it isn’t holding the road together either.”
Brian said he had passed work crews along the road and hoped they would be making repairs. But he said aside from grading some sections, nothing had changed.
“There’s still massive holes, and big broken areas sticking up. It is a bloody nightmare and it is getting worse.”
Read more: Rainbow stresses over inadequate roads
With harvest fast approaching, and the grain industry predicting a bumper year, locals are worried that the roads could become extremely dangerous when the grain trucks arrive.
John Ward is a farmer near the Murra Warra Wind Farm and was at the scene of the July 14 car crash, at the intersection of Dimboola-Minyip Road and Blue Ribbon Road, helping to direct traffic.
Mr Ward said more than 50 cars and a dozen trucks passed by in an hour and that at least three-quarters of the cars were tourists.
“There are more and more cars along these back roads, especially with the Silo Art Trail, and the work to widen the roads was never completed,” he said.
“The roads don’t even have white lines, and they’re really narrow. We already have problems with two trucks getting by each other - with all these cars it is even worse.”
Daily commuter Elisha Martion said she could see the increasing damage on her drive to Blue Lake Mill every day, and that the broken, raised sections in the middle of the roads were as much a hazard as the potholes.
“The Rainbow-Jeparit Road has broken apart and the holes are getting really deep,” Ms Martion said.
“There is nowhere near enough room on the road with a truck coming towards you, and you can’t pull to the side, because the sides of the road break out from underneath you.”
Rainbow truck driver, Merv Sluggett, spends a lot of time on the region’s roads and said that although the Birchip-Rainbow Road had been graded recently, only a short stretch was done and that the Hopetoun-Rainbow Road was in a similar state.
“As per most of our local roads there’s stretches where there’s a considerable drop off from the bitumen to the gravel,” he said.
“The 2011 floods did considerable damage to the region’s roads and, with the exception of a few badly patched up sections, they have not been fully repaired 10 years later.
“It really isn’t acceptable when you look at the amount of seasonal traffic that uses these roads.”
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Ebony Spokes commutes between Rainbow and her home in Jeparit almost daily, and said the recent grading of sections of the Dimboola-Rainbow Road had made the journey even more difficult.
“Some parts nearly pull me right off the road,” she said.
“And it is pretty rough in some parts, especially leading into town and around the train lines.”
Brian also spends a lot of time travelling between farms and transporting goods, and said the roads were an "absolute disgrace".
“They have been ignored by a succession of governments over the years and are close to too far gone,” he said.
“With harvest coming up, my suggestion to everyone - cars and trucks - is to please drive to the conditions, and if you are pulling off to the side for an oncoming vehicle, please slow down.”
Tell us your thoughts on the roads, submit photos and share your experiences on local roads. Join the conversation on the Rainbow Argus Facebook page, or email us at news@theargus.com.au.
*name changed for privacy