Council manages a network of around 607km of sealed roads and 470km of unsealed roads and tracks.

Just under 30 per cent of these roads also feature pathways and kerb and channel that sends stormwater into our drainage network.

Our Road Management Plan (the plan) sets the standards we use to guide the way we manage and maintain this network.

It includes a classification and hierachy of roads, streets and footpaths, and outlines:

• How often we’ll inspect each road, street and footpath in the hierachy;
• The level of defect required for intervention or repair (e.g. minimum depth of a pothole); and
• The repair timeframes we’ll commit ourselves to.

It’s important the plan is achievable, so it must consider the financial and non-financial resources we have available.

We’re required to update the plan every four years, in line with Council election cycles.

The release of our draft 2025-2029 plan is a chance for you to have a say in the way we manage our road network over the next four years.

Proposed changes from our 2021-2025 plan

The changes made to the 2025-2029 plan have been made to:

• Improve inspection and response times for roads used more frequently by the community;
• Work within current restraints around budget and staff levels, while ensuring the changed inspection and response times can still be met;
• Make sure road assets are regularly inspected; and
• Include inspections of road assets that were previously not included in the plan.

A table showing the changes made to the draft plan is in the document library.

An internal review was conducted to update the plan, which considered:

• Findings from a review of unsealed road maintenance;
• Results from an evaluation of Council’s Civil Operations Service levels;
• Benchmarking data from similar councils;
• Community requests related to road maintenance;
• Current staffing and financial resources, and
• The Municipal Association of Victoria template used across all Victorian council.

The draft Road Management Plan 2025-2029 and the Road Management Plan 2021-2025 can be found in the document library.

Find more information about our road management at Surf Coast Shire road management