Nathan Jones has been in the business of changing tyres in Victoria for 20 years, but he's never been as busy as he is now.

"I don't know of any tyre shop in Albury Wodonga that wouldn't be making money now," he said.

'Every time it rains it's a fresh set of potholes, and it's perfect for us."

Mr Jones said since the floods more than a year ago, there has been a steady stream of customers through his door needing tyre replacements and wheel alignments due to the poor state of local roads.

But the potholes are far from fixed.

Motorists at Granya, in north-east Victoria, are made to stop at temporary traffic lights installed in the town's main street where floods ripped away the road a year ago.

Resident Ken Starr said motorists were worried it was a matter of time before someone was hurt.

"A lot of people are dodging the potholes and not seeing cars coming, and sometimes they are on the wrong side of the road."

Granya school bus driver and Towong shire councillor, David Wortmann, said he could not remember a time when the roads had been so bad.

"The road toll is increasing, which is terrible, and we need further investment in rural roads from federal and state governments, and local government," he said. 

Road damage statewide

VicRoads data shows more than 60 regional Victorian road sites have been waiting for repairs or have been impacted by floods for more than a year. 

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan told the ABC the October 2022 floods had a significant impact on the road network and the state's maintenance program.

She said the situation was exacerbated by heavy rain this summer.

"Obviously, the schedule has to be adjusted in some parts of the state because of the significant additional damage that was done as a result of those summer weather events," Ms Allan said.

"This is the importance of having a 10-year rolling program because we know each and every year you have to keep up with the road maintenance tasks when natural disasters come along."

But the opposition's roads and road safety spokesman, Nationals MP Danny O'Brien, criticised the state government for cutting the state's road asset management budget by 45 per cent since 2020.

He said there was a 25 per cent cut in last year's budget alone.

"The government is trying to claim money in this year's budget that it obviously did not spend in the past, and what we are seeing is an outcome that has absolutely devastated our roads right across the state," he said.

A total of $441.6 million was allocated to the Road Asset Management budget for 2023–24, with budget papers featuring a footnote stating that the road maintenance output and asset expenditure for the year was $770 million.

The government has detailed this money was calculated to also include funding from previous budgets.

The Victorian Department of Transport said about 370,000 potholes were patched in 2023.

It said 21,000 signs were repaired or replaced, and tens of thousands of kilometres of roadside were maintained as part of a $770 million road maintenance blitz.

Danger to tourists 

Robert Cowan, who has lived in Granya since 1990, said he was also worried about roads in his area.

"The quality of the patching has only been marginal," he said.

"We are getting more people and getting more tourists out this way.

Speed and weight limits have been reduced, lanes closed and traffic lights installed in place of road fixes.

New regional road maintenance contracts to be introduced this year will require all contractors to abide by the same standards, providing a more consistent approach to maintenance and employing more local workers to fix roads.

Quarry questions

The road maintenance rush comes as the number of Victorian quarries, which provide road materials such as sand and hard rock, declines.

There are about 450 active quarries in the state, down from 550 five years ago, according to the Construction Material Processors Association (CMPA).

The Victorian government requires about eight tonnes of quarry material per person every year to support roads and infrastructure, but those materials are becoming more scarce.

Resources Victoria data forecasts that Victoria will require 79.5 million tonnes of extracted materials each year by 2030, up from 63.7 million tonnes in 2020-2021. 

It also predicts demand for materials will have doubled from 2015 levels by 2050. 

The Department of Transport and Planning's 2022–23 annual report showed regional road area treatment fell more than 25 per cent short of its target during the period, blaming increased costs and extreme weather.

Inner metropolitan roads were also more than 45 per cent short of their target due to inflation and a re-prioritisation of outer metropolitan roads where pavement failure risk was higher, according to the report.

The quarry industry has raised concerns that costly and lengthy approval processes for new quarries are deterring investors.

CMPA general manager Elizabeth Gibson said some greenfield quarries could take a decade to be approved, while variations on existing quarries could take up to five years and cost millions of dollars in fees. 

"[Lack of investor interest] is something … that we have been saying will occur, and we are beginning to see the signs of that with this 14 per cent increase in [construction material] prices," she said.

Victoria is exploring recycled materials such as fabric, glass and construction demolition waste to help supplement quarry products.

But the quarry industry warns there are also limits to the availability of recycled materials.

"Currently, recycled construction demolition waste accounts for about 7 million tonnes per annum and there are road specifications that incorporate a percentage of that recycled material," Dr Gibson said. 

"But you have to remember that there is a limiting factor for recycled material … you have to knock down buildings in order to get that material out."

The Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources has been contacted for comment.