26 Sep 2017 Gannawarra Times, Gannawarra (General News) THERE have been plenty of claims made in relation to country roads in recent news articles. The facts are that the VicRoads maintenance budget was $157 million in the last year of the previous Liberal/National Government this year Labor have allocated $343.2 million to maintenance. The Nationals are deliberately misleading on a proposal to reduce speed limits. It was Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer, who was concerned about deaths on our roads due to speed, that proposed the idea of reduced speed limits on country dirt roads. Turning this into a political tit for tat is disrespectful to those who have lost loved ones on our roads. Labor knows roads are the lifeblood of country communities thats why were investing more than ever before to make our country roads safer. Since coming to office, the Andrews Labor Government has doubled spending on road maintenance. During the next 12 months VicRoads will be doing more pavement work than it has done in decades, in this financial year alone, VicRoads will fix more than 1400 kilometres of roads. And were not just filling pot holes; were rebuilding entire sections of some of our most critical links. Were rolling out more than 1700 kilometres of wire rope barriers, upgrading road shoulders and widening centre lines on the States most dangerous country roads. I know there is much to be done on country roads and our government is focused on getting on with the job. Jaclyn Symes, Member for Northern Victoria. Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence.