Victorian drivers' safety is being put at risk because the state has a growing number of roads in terrible condition, a new report says.
Not enough money is put into road maintenance and VicRoads cannot show it is making the best use of existing maintenance funds, Auditor-General Andrew Greaves has found.
In a report tabled on Thursday, he said if the current level of investment continued, VicRoads own modelling predicted half of the state's road network will be in "very poor condition" in just eight years.
"The increasing proportion of the state road network in very poor condition presents a growing risk to public safety and increases road user costs," Mr Greaves said.
VicRoads' approach to road maintenance is reactive, and is generally only carried out when it becomes critical, he said.
Funding has been decreasing since 2010-11, including a reduction in maintenance funding of about 60 per cent.
The state Labor government blamed the former coalition government for "chronically underfunding" road maintenance.
This year's budget includes $343.2 million for maintenance, which the government says is double that of previous years.
"Over the next 12 months VicRoads will be doing more pavement work than it has done in decades," Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said.
"In 2015, VicRoads made major improvements to how it manages, plans and prioritises road pavement management - it's unfortunate the impact of those changes are not covered by the Auditor General's report."
VicRoads chief executive John Merritt said much of the state's arterial roads were built soon after WWII when trucks were not as heavy as they are now.
He said a new management approach includes better planning and a different approach to data collection.
Opposition roads spokesman Ryan Smith said Victoria's roads were in a terrible situation.
"The Andrews government promised $1 billion of extra funding towards country roads, that money's failed to materialise and the roads continue to deteriorate," he told reporters.
