Concerns mount over safety of Bellarine’s gravel roads

LEOPOLD residents are the latest community along the Bellarine to raise fears over the safety of the area’s gravel roads following a series of accidents.

Community members living on and around Como Road and neighbouring Ash Road have contacted the City of Greater Geelong to request a speed limit reduction on Como Road, as excessive dust, corrugation and potholes plague the stretch.

Many local residents have turned to online community forums to express their concerns.

“Como [Road] is rough as guts at the moment – and that’s in a land rover,” Jeffery Ball wrote.

“Hate to think what it does to sedans.”

Another resident said both Como Road and Ash Road were “absolutely horrendous”.

“I can’t believe both [roads] are being left in the state they are in.”

Resident Judi Gravett said unsealed roads were “a real problem throughout the Bellarine Peninsula”.

“Gravel roads are in need of new material, lower speed limits and more considerate drivers,” she said.

These complaints follows similar concerns from other residents along the Bellarine regarding the state of unsealed roads across the region, including those on Ibbotson Street and Harvey Road in St Leonards.

One local woman has been campaigning for a least eight years to have the speed limit on the unsealed stretch of road on Harvey Road reduced from 100kmh.

At least one person has lost their life on the stretch.

James Stirton, the City for Greater Geelong’s executive director of city infrastructure, said there were several factors that contribute to the condition of unsealed roads.

“By nature, the condition of gravel roads changes frequently due to product composition, weather, traffic volumes and driver behaviours.

“Being porous, gravel roads respond more readily to environmental conditions. This can result in dust, corrugations, potholes and temporary soft surfaces during wet weather.”

He said the city recognised that a “higher level of service” was possible should the gravel roads be sealed, however, “there needs to be an operational or strategic benefit for council to fund these works”.

A Special Rates and Charges (SRC) scheme is instead available to property owners willing to contribute funding to the upgrade of gravel roads where the city has deemed such an upgrade “provides a localised benefit only”.

The city is presently running a trial of five different gravel materials in an effort to improve the construction and maintenance of unsealed roads across the municipality.

“Our current trial project is testing several gravel blends of road products to ensure we continue to use the most suitable material to achieve the desired performance when delivering our unsealed road renewal program,” Mr Stirton said.

“This project is still under way and will require 12 months monitoring to ensure materials are exposed to all weather conditions.”

Mr Stirton confirmed the city was talking to the Department of Transport and Planning about reducing the speed limit on Como Road and had also submitted a request to the same department to extend the 50kmh zone on Ibbotson Street.

He said the city would collect traffic data for Harvey Road to investigate a possible speed reduction at this location.