A Dadswells Bridge couple is calling on Regional Roads Victoria to make several lasting changes to the Western Highway through the town.
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Grampians Edge Caravan Park owners Stephen and Jennifer Vines have been lobbying the state government body heavily for the past 12 months, saying the 80 km/h speed limit needs to be extended and the road surface upgraded.
Mr Vines said RRV was having to make regular repairs to the road, having only upgraded it two months ago.
"We first got in touch with VicRoads over the safety of drivers travelling in the Melbourne direction turning right into Krause Road (which leads to the caravan park)," he said.
"We've had a couple of incidents in the past two years - one where a car has hit two motorbikes - and we've had a lot of vans nearly miss the corner because they've had trucks right up their backside and they can't turn because it's such a blind corner."
The Vines took over the caravan park around the start of 2017, moving up to the Wimmera from Langwarrin, southeast of Melbourne. Mr Vines said visitor numbers to the park were growing.
"We've noticed in the two months since they (Regional Roads Victoria) have done the work the bridge work has started to move away," he said.
"All they've done is just patched up sections: It was a week and a half ago I noticed the noise was really bad so I walked out and saw a massive pothole, so I've run back to get my car and two-way radio to warn the trucks.
"It wasn't until a car actually hit a pothole and they rang regional roads to complain that workers came out that night just on midnight."
Mrs Vines said the pair had heard from RRV Dadswells Bridge wasn't a big enough town to be a priority to fix roads.
"They have done some work, and we're really happy they've tried to help to a certain degree, but the main safety issue we have is that blind corner," she said.
"We've been asking VicRoads to extend the 80 kilometre zone out the other side of the bends so the trucks are already slowing down enough for people travelling eastbound who want to turn right into the park. We are seeing so many near misses here it's just terrible.
"Our first meeting with them we heard because we didn't have a school here we weren't classed as a big enough place to warrant any real changes.
The couple estimated visitor numbers had grown by 70 per cent since they took over the caravan park, with 400 people there every easter weekend.
Through one area with potholes, the speed limit has been dropped to 40 kilometres an hour.
A Regional Roads Victoria spokesman said the body did not prioritise roadworks based on an area's population.
"We collect pavement condition and road surface data across our network and this data, together with inspections, community concerns and information collected on previous maintenance, is used to decide where our planned maintenance occurs," he said.
The body's regional director, Mal Kerstig, confirmed a section of the repaired highway had failed "due to moisture underneath the road surface, which can happen when we have wet conditions".
"We'll keep the speed limit to 40 km/h until those repairs are carried out for the safety of everyone travelling through the area," he said.
"We're also planning to install additional signage ahead of the 80km/h zone at Dadswells Bridge to ensure that drivers are aware that they're entering a populated area and improve compliance with signed speed limits."
Regional Roads Victoria's most recent data shows an average of 2700 heavy vehicles travel on the Western Highway between Ararat and the South Australian border each day.
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