‘Massive, they are massive’: Motorists stranded after hitting huge potholes on Hume Freeway
Motorists are stranded at the side of the Hume Freeway after hitting huge potholes that have opened up near the regional town of Seymour, which has been inundated by floodwaters.
The potholes are hard to avoid in daylight and impossible in the dark, said Varmodh Shardh, who had been stranded at the side of the freeway for hours when he spoke to The Age on Friday morning.
“We left early in the morning. [We] didn’t even see the pothole because it was dark,” Shardh said.
Cars stranded on the side of the Hume Freeway after hitting huge potholes.Credit:Liam Mannix
“When we pulled up, there were another 10, 15 cars parked along here with lights flashing.
“[We] called up RACV [but] they said, ‘we can’t come up’. In the meantime, what the hell are we supposed to do? We can’t get hold of any tow truck or anybody. We’ve been here three hours.”
A car with two blown tyres on the side of the Hume Freeway.Credit:Liam Mannix
About 8am, five cars were stopped at the side of the freeway, right-hand tyres destroyed and hazard lights flashing in the soft rain.
Some drivers were changing their tyres, while others were sitting beside their vehicles, stranded. One local person helped by ferrying stranded drivers into town.
By noon, there were a further six cars beside the road near the Tallarook turnoff, about 12 kilometres south of Seymour. Some had completely lost their tyres.
Zoe Lee, manager at Seymour Tyrepower, was on the freeway at 1pm helping as many motorists as she could, despite her own shop being inundated by floodwaters.
“I’m actually on the side of the road at the moment … we’ve just finished helping a lady in a Mazda,” Lee said about 1pm. “My phone has been going rampant since 6.30am.
A discarded wheel on the side of the Hume Freeway.Credit:Liam Mannix
“We can really only help as many as we can. Last night we were out on the highway with a guy who was out there for seven hours before we got to him.”
The main routes to Seymour have been cut off, but Lee managed to find a way onto the freeway to help those who were stranded.
“We’re putting on their spares and doing one-puncture repairs on the side of the road, and un-dinting rims where we can,” Lee said.
“The potholes are massive, they are massive.”
This year heavy rain has left Victoria’s roads in a particularly bad shape ahead of the usual spring maintenance season. But this week’s deluge increased the size and depth of the potholes.
“The potholes are huge and they are really dangerous,” Rob, a truck driver on the Hume passing through Avenel told ABC central Victoria radio on Thursday.
“People need to slow down and be aware that the road surface is treacherous. These potholes are so big – there was one pothole that was the length of a car. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Premier Daniel Andrews said wet weather had delayed routine maintenance on regional roads.
“You get into this situation where you put the bitumen down and without the proper dry weather for it to cure traffic over it just rips it up again,” Andrews said.
“That’s been the only limiting factor to get more and more of those potholes fixed. Not money, not will, it’s been all about weather. And of course that will still be a factor.”
The state government has allocated more than $780 million to repair 1600 kilometres of state arterial road surfaces this year.
Earlier this week, the state opposition promised to spend $10 billion on road maintenance in the next 10 years if elected.
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