25 Sep 2017 Shepparton News, Shepparton VIC (General News) More work on country roads Jaclyn Symes State Member for Northern Victoria There have been plenty of claims made in relation to country roads in recent news articles. The facts are VicRoads maintenance budget was $157 million in the last year of the previous Liberal/National Government, this year Labor has 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, concerned about deaths on our roads due to speed, proposing 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 that is why we are investing more than ever before to make our country roads safer. Since coming to office, Victorian Government has doubled spending on road maintenance. In 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 km of roads. And we are not just filling potholes; we are rebuilding entire sections of some of our most critical links. We are rolling out more than 1700 km 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 focused on getting on with the job. Licensed by Copyright Agency. You may only copy or communicate this work with a licence.