Emergency Inspections
We play a vital role in keeping Victoria moving during and after major emergencies.
From setting up traffic management points and helping to direct traffic safely during emergencies through to repairing and replacing damaged infrastructure, our crews carry out a range of roles during the immediate response and recovery phases.
During the recent January bushfires, our crews helped to operate traffic management points across more than 31 major arterial roads that were closed by fires.
This includes installing closure and detour signs, providing directions to drivers and working alongside emergency services to determine when it’s safe to reopen roads.
In the wake of any major emergency such as floods or fires, our crews carry out three levels of inspections across the network to ensure that our roads are safe for drivers to use.
The first level of inspection, which is carried out prior to a road re-opening to the public, examines the road and surrounding roadsides for any immediate dangers, such as major damage to the road surface, damage to signage and safety barriers and debris that has fallen on the road.
Crews then complete a second inspection of our roads, looking for smaller defects and other damage to vital infrastructure such as drains, culverts and gantries.
This level of inspection also includes working alongside independent arborists to assess the health of roadside trees
A third level of inspection is carried out on major structures, such as bridges, to check them over in minute detail and ensure that the effects of floods or fires haven’t caused any significant damage.
In order to carry out these three levels of inspection, we harness every method at our disposal, from crew members checking the road in person, through to using drones and even scuba divers to check the safety of structures after an event.
Following the completion of these inspections, plans for major, longer-term repairs are then put in place and prioritised.
These repairs can range from simple asphalt patching through to large-scale bridge strengthening works and can take anywhere from days to months to deliver, based on their scale.