Residents lament shire’s worst road

Paul Dunlop
IS this the worst road in Cardinia Shire?
Dale Jamieson certainly thinks so, and he drives on it every day.
Mr Jamieson is talking about Olsen Road, in Nar Nar Goon North, which is unsealed and has become riddled with severe corrugation after months of hot and dry weather.
He says it’s like many rural roads in the district, only worse.
“It would be without a doubt worse than I’ve ever seen it in my life,” he said.
“It’s worse than Bessie Creek Road was when it was rated by the RACV as the worst road in Victoria. It is absolutely atrocious.”
Mr Jamieson said he was prompted to speak out over the condition of Olsen Road after he came across a crash there when driving home last Thursday evening.
He said he contacted the council in a bid to get the road improved. Some of the corrugations along Olsen Road were more than 15 centimetres deep, he said.
“It’s absolutely atrocious. You’ve got to put up with a bit in the country, I certainly don’t expect it to be perfect but it is dangerous.”
Cardinia Shire Bunyip Ward councillor Bill Pearson acknowledged that several rural roads were in poor condition but said residents would just have to be patient.
The drought was making council’s road maintenance effort extremely difficult, he said.
“Some of our roads are terrible but running the grader over them just cuts the dust, there is nothing to bind the road together, no moisture in the surface at all,” he said.
“I’ve been on Olsen Road, it isn’t good but there is a lot of roads in the same boat. It’s certainly not through lack of maintenance, our graders and water trucks are out more than ever.”
Cr Pearson said council was putting an enormous amount of time and money into its road network, but was getting no help from Mother Nature.
“We knew this summer was going to be bad and so it has proved. The roads are so dry, they’re cracking and that’s exacerbating the problem. This council has got 1000 kilometres of unmade roads to maintain and 500 kilometres of sealed roads.
“Sealing a rural road costs $250,000 per kilometre. We can’t seal them all, all we can do is keep pegging at it year by year.”