Following the wettest Ballarat winter in more than four decades, the City of Ballarat is ready to deliver its significant annual road maintenance program.
More than 60 road improvement projects have been scheduled and are ready to begin as soon as weather conditions permit, reinforcing the City of Ballarat’s commitment to maintaining a safe and reliable road network.
The road maintenance blitz is expected to begin in early October, subject to favourable weather conditions.
More than $6 million has once again been invested in repairing local roads in the 2026/27 budget; the third year in a row with such a significant investment.
The program of works brings together scheduled maintenance, re-sealing, resurfacing and major patching projects so crews can respond quickly once warmer, drier conditions make long-lasting repairs possible.
The $6 million that has been allocated specifically to this year’s road maintenance blitz forms part of the City of Ballarat’s total investment of $25.3 million in capital road infrastructure projects in 2026/27.
This broader investment includes major road reconstructions, upgrades, drainage improvements, and other road infrastructure projects on top of the maintenance, resurfacing and re-sealing works delivered through the program.
The road maintenance upgrades will occur over the spring and summer period, targeting roads in greatest need of repair.
It will only target roads that fall under City of Ballarat jurisdiction, rather than roads that are the responsibility of the Victorian Government.
City of Ballarat Deputy Mayor, Cr Ben Taylor said the community deserved safe roads and Council was committed to investing in and maintaining the local road network.
“We have heard loud and clear from our community that road conditions are important to them, and this significant maintenance program is a direct response to that feedback,” he said.
“Every resident deserves to travel on roads that are safe, reliable and fit for purpose.
“After an exceptionally wet winter, we know there are areas across the municipality that require attention and we are ready to get to work as soon as conditions allow.”
Outlining the upcoming roadworks
Major patching and resealing works are generally unable to be undertaken during the colder winter months.
With spring now under way, a comprehensive program of works has been finalised and will soon be delivered across the municipality.
The road maintenance program will upgrade about 250,000 square metres in bitumen re-sealing.
Separately, more than 53,000 square metres of sealed roads will be upgraded via patching and resurfacing.
The roads due for upgrades can be explored in the map below.
The purple icons represent the re-sealing program, where a thin layer of hot bitumen is applied to the existing road surface in conjunction with aggregate stone forming a new top layer.
The blue icons represent resurfacing projects, where large areas of existing road surface are removed and replaced with a new asphalt top layer.
The green icons represent major patching projects, which are smaller areas of roads in need of more specific, targeted patching repairs.
The orange icons are jobs that were originally earmarked for completion in the 2025/26 financial year, but were postponed due to economic inflation that stemmed from international conflict in the Middle East.
Ballarat’s wet winter
A total of 316.8mm of rain fell in Ballarat in June, July and August, well above the long-term average of 202mm and the most rainfall throughout winter since 1981.
This amount of rain places significant strain on the city’s road network.
City of Ballarat Director Infrastructure and Environment, Bridget Wetherall said although there was significant rainfall over many months, Ballarat’s roads had mostly been able to sustain the heavy rainfall.
“We have invested significantly over recent years in our roads program, and we can now start to see the benefit of that,” she said.
“Our team have been incredibly busy keeping the roads as safe as possible throughout winter, filling more than 370 potholes during June, July and August.
“Now the winter months are behind us, we look forward to undertaking some more significant and long-lasting repairs.”
Seen a pothole? Snap Send Solve it
While City of Ballarat crews are continually monitoring the local road network for defects, it is impossible to identify every issue across more than 1,200 kilometres of sealed roads.
That is why community reporting plays such an important role in helping the City of Ballarat identify and prioritise repairs.
Residents are encouraged to report potholes, damaged road surfaces and other road-related issues whenever they are identified.
The easiest, quickest and most effective way to do this is through the Snap, Send, Solve app, which allows reports to be lodged directly with the appropriate authority so issues can be assessed and responded to as soon as possible.
Once lodged, requests for repair can quickly enter the City of Ballarat system for repair, or be referred to another authority such as the Victorian Government, if the road falls under State jurisdiction.
Alternatively, residents can submit a request through the City of Ballarat website, email [email protected], or contact Customer Service on 5320 5500.
Every report helps the City of Ballarat build a clearer picture of road conditions across the municipality and respond where maintenance is needed most.
