CRUMBLING sides, soft edges and speeding are just a few concerns raised by Petschels Lane residents about the state and use of their road.

Each with a story in hand, six neighbours gathered on Petchels Lane earlier this week to discuss the state of the road in an effort to spark change before tragedy strikes.

Petschels Lane was one of the many local roads impacted by the October floods, with the sudden influx of water washing away sections of the road - narrowing the lanes, making it impossible for vehicles to pull over, and creating an abundance of hazards.

Petschels Lane resident, Neville Groves, said the sides of the road were soft even before the flood, and said he needed to help tow a car that became bogged after pulling over.

“The first day they opened it up to the full speed limit (after construction) a car pulled over (just across the road from my property) and the two wheels went down in the soil and I had to go get my little loader and pull him out because the side of the road was so soft from day one,” he said.

“If we get two inches of rain within an hour it’s going to be devastating … there’s going to be no road at all.”

Currently, large sections of the side of Petschels Lane have eroded away leaving a drop of roughly 30 centimetres in some sections, which Kannenbergs Road resident, Denis Watt, said he believed was due to poor construction.

“The day they put this in I said, ‘if we get a decent rain it’ll wash out’, and that’s exactly what happened,” he said.

“All the trucks that go from Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, they all use this road - would they have one of the highways in a state like this and have an 80km speed limit like this? No way known.”

Residents are also concerned about the lack of maintenance in respect to the roadworks signs, which they say frequently blow over and no longer reflect the state of the road.

Petschels Lane tenant, Angela Lea, said the signs dropping the speed limit of the road from 80 kilometres per hour to 60km/h were installed after the October floods and she has not seen anyone update them since, despite the road continuing to deteriorate.

“Since October, I don’t believe anyone’s updated the signs but there’s been more wash away,” she said.

An indication of the lack of signage maintenance comes from a large pile of loose road signs - including 40km signs and prepare to stop signs - that Ms Lea said she collected from the sides of the road and placed under a piece of metal to prevent them from blowing away.

To further add to the issues, since the Heavy Vehicle Detour was enforced at the start of the year, Petschels Lane - one of the marked temporary detour routes - has seen an increase in truck traffic, with residents concerned that not everyone is obeying the reduced speed limits put in place to account for the damage.

Ms Lea said she often drives out to her property where she keeps her horses and has witnessed firsthand the reckless nature of some drivers on that stretch of road.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen and it’s going to happen,” she said.

After observing countless vehicles speeding along Petschels Lane, Ms Lea said the final straw for her came on January 31, when she was overtaken by a B-double truck when trying to turn right into her driveway while towing a horse float.

Ms Lea said at the time of the incident she had stopped, looked and listened for oncoming traffic before pulling out onto Petschels Lane to drive the 500 metres to her driveway from the corner of Kannenbergs Road, however, as she neared her property she noticed a truck quickly approaching her.

“About 150m from my paddock I noticed a truck looming behind me at speed,” she said.

 “I could not indicate at that stage, due to the driveways of (another property) being before my own driveway, so I continued going slowly.

“I started to put my indicator on and just as I went to put it down, he overtook me. He fishtailed down the road and I swear that was such a near moment of death for that bloke that he just couldn’t slow down.

“I could have been T-boned, I was ready to turn, it was all within a split second, it was life or death for me.”

Mr Groves said he had a similar experience when the looming threat of a truck tailgating him prevented him from turning into his own driveway, forcing him to continue travelling up the road in search of a place to pull over.

“I had the same thing with a fuel tanker coming behind me and pushed me to keep going, I couldn’t turn in my driveway it was going that fast,” he said.

“I didn’t put (my indicator) on because I was too scared. I would have been cleaned up for sure.”

While several of the residents agree there are trucks that disobey the signed speeds, they also recognise the majority of road users do the right thing and take care while travelling on the damaged road.

“It’s not all negative,” Mr Groves said.

“It would be 20 per cent minimum (of trucks) that do the wrong thing.

“I don’t want to blame everyone because a lot of people do the right thing.”

Lowan MP, Emma Kealy, visited Petschels Lane on Wednesday and said repairs needed to be “a top priority”. 

“It’s incredibly dangerous that we’ve got such a large drop-off that has now crept into the road surface and is creeping into the white lines,” she said.

“It’s sheer luck that there hasn’t been a serious accident on that stretch of road yet.

“I would urge Council to immediately review the road condition and take action to either have the speed limit reduced to 40 kilometres per hour or consider closing the road to all users except local traffic.”

“Given this road appears to be damaged from the floods there should be funding provided by the government to assist with repairs.”

Southern Grampians Shire chief executive, Tony Doyle, said Petschels Lane is a Council managed road and the process of getting it repaired was currently underway.

“Following the flooding event and reported damage, Council staff were onsite at Petschels Lane in the early hours of the Saturday morning repairing driveway crossovers to allow residents access in and out of their properties,” he said.

“Council has since engaged an independent engineer to assess the damage and determine the necessary works.

“In accordance with the National Disaster Financial Assistance (NDFA) and the Victorian State Government Council Flood Support Fund, no repair works can be undertaken until such time as Council has received confirmation from the Federal and State Government authorities as to the funding granted and the terms of agreement.

“Council has been advised notification of these funding agreements are expected over the coming months.

“If approved, the proposed works package as submitted by Council includes various works across multiple sites within the Shire, including Petschels Lane, Hamilton.

“Specifically for Petschels Lane, the proposed works include reconstruction of the road shoulders, reforming and replacement of damaged drainage and culverts.”

Mr Doyle said Council was aware of the questions raised surrounding the progress of the Cox Street redevelopment which has been delayed due to unforeseen circumstances.

“Council appointed a contractor following a procurement process and is very frustrated that the road construction works are not yet completed on Cox Street,” he said.

“We acknowledge and share the community’s dissatisfaction with the delays. We are aware there are challenges in all regional areas to secure sub-contractors required for infrastructure projects and while this is an issue for the Cox Street works, Council acknowledges there has been ample lead time to lock in sub-contractors.

“We continue to work with the lead contractor within the terms of the contract to resolve a confirmed program of works.

“Council has not made any forward payments to the lead contractor for any works that have not commenced but will enforce applicable penalties due to the delays.”

Regarding Petschels Lane residents’ concerns that the temporary Cox Street detour would become a permanent solution, Mr Doyle said a decision had not yet been made but Council aimed to tackle the issue of speeding.

“During 2022, Council undertook a traffic and transport movement study called ‘Hamilton Moves’ where we sought community feedback and ideas on traffic and transport activity within Hamilton. This considered options for a permanent alternative heavy vehicle route, however, Council is to yet to formally consider these options.

“Any permanent alternative routes would require approval from State Government and would involve consultation with impacted community members.

“Petschels Lane residents have raised their concerns about the increased volumes and speed of vehicles using Petschels Lane.

“Council has undertaken traffic data collection and provided this information to the Victoria Police (Hamilton Branch) and requests for a speed camera on Petschels Lane have also been forwarded to the Victoria Police.”

Overall, the consensus from Petschels Lane residents was that their road needs to be fixed before there is a tragedy on their doorstep.

Mr Groves said, “the main issue is to get this place safe, to get the speed limit down and get the road safe. It’s no good the way it is.”