Date: 3rd July 2026

The mayor of the Rural City of Wangaratta has used a VLGA Connect interview to call for urgent state government action on regional road funding, saying that even a two-billion-dollar commitment from the state would fall short of what is needed to address the maintenance backlog across Victoria’s regional centres.

Cr Irene Grant, who has backed the RACV’s My Country Road campaign, told Chris Eddy that road safety and road quality are constant concerns raised by her community.

“Our community will come to us constantly saying that the roads are not what they should be,” Cr Grant said. “Roads are important in terms of social connection, in terms of economic development connection — and if the roads are not up to par, then it has a big impact on the community.”

The Rural City of Wangaratta has been among the councils drawing attention to specific hazard data, with the Great Alpine Road identified as Victoria’s most dangerous highway and the Wangaratta-Whitfield Road carrying a one-star safety rating.

Cr Grant said the fifteen roads most complained about by Wangaratta residents were all state-managed roads — underscoring the disconnect between community expectations and funding responsibility.

Through the Regional Cities Victoria group, Wangaratta has joined calls for a two-billion-dollar government commitment to regional road maintenance. But Cr Grant was candid about the scale of the problem.

“We’re already told that two billion dollars is simply going to be a drop in the ocean,” she said. “It’s a problem that has been allowed to slip over a period of time — and now we’re seeing these significant impacts on communities.”

On the question of accountability, Cr Grant pointed to what she described as the tyranny of distance — the difficulty regional councils face in making their concerns heard by state government. She said Wangaratta was now exploring a more collaborative approach with Rural Roads Victoria, looking at whether the council could undertake repairs directly and seek reimbursement, rather than waiting for state intervention.

Cr Grant also encouraged community members to register their concerns through the RACV’s My Country Road survey, which she said would collate road condition data from across Victoria and help build the evidence base for further investment.

The full interview with Councillor Irene Grant is available in the current episode of VLGA Connect, available to view on YouTube or listen to the podcast below: