WITH recent rains impacting roads throughout the region, a Barunah Plains woman has been asking for months for Golden Plains Shire to fix a large hole at Cressy-Shelford Road.<\/p>\n
Located between Geggies and Bells roads, Margaret Bufton said the hole has only gotten worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been there since before October and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably quite a few people have had to stop because of it but we\u2019ve gotten at least five people that have really done the damage who\u2019ve pulled over and needed repairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne gentleman damaged his vehicle very substantially, and we even had two people within an hour during the Beyond the Valley music festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had one person with his car on a jack. Another was waiting hours for RACV and the fella actually had to cut the bolt because they couldn\u2019t get the punctured tyre off.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwice, I\u2019ve sent a complaint notifying VicRoads who are supposed to pass it on to Golden Plains. I only had a reply the other week and no one\u2019s spoken to the Shire.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the municipality said their maintenance programs were temporarily suspended to divert attention to flood-impacted roads, with their major patching works having recommenced in early January.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatching crews are currently working on the northern half of the Shire and will be working their way to the south, attending to roads on a priority basis,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouncil is working through a backlog of damaged roads and we anticipate to have caught up with road damage caused by floods within the next three to four months.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the municipality applying for funding from the State Government\u2019s flood recovery fund, the Golden Plains Shire spokesperson also said the Cressy-Shelford Road hole will soon be addressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s anticipated that Cressy-Shelford Road will be repaired within a month, subject to contractor availability and favourable weather conditions,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s patching works schedule is significantly bigger than previous years due to the impact of the storm events in October and November last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Bufton said there\u2019s been no sign of resolution from the municipality, with warning signage placed by her son and markings on the road left by others to alert drivers.<\/p>\n
Above all, she said she\u2019d like to see some acknowledgement from the municipality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a dividing road between Shire of Colac Otway and Golden Plains Shire so we had works being done on Colac\u2019s end and you could see they were doing things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wet weather might have exacerbated the situation but this hole was definitely here before that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d just like to know that council is listening and that something will be done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WITH recent rains impacting roads throughout the region, a Barunah Plains woman has been asking for months for Golden Plains Shire to fix a large hole at Cressy-Shelford Road. Located between Geggies and Bells roads, Margaret Bufton said the hole has only gotten worse. \u201cIt\u2019s been there since before October and it just keeps getting […]<\/p>\n