It’s night inspection time

Published on 04 July 2025

It’s winter, and while most of us are focusing on keeping warm at night, some Loddon Shire Council staff are literally going the extra mile outdoors to make sure our roads are safe.

This is the time of year that Council carries out its annual night inspection program of both sealed and unsealed rural roads and town streets.

These are done to make sure road signs are in place, clearly visible with full reflectivity and not obscured by vegetation.

Council Director Operations Steve Van Orsouw said the inspections would cover about 770km of Council’s roads and would take four to six weeks to complete.

The inspections were done in winter due to shorter daylight hours with inspections starting at 5.30pm and finishing at 2.30am.  

“It’s an important part of our road management plan to ensure all signage in place meets Australian safety standards,” Mr Van Orsouw said.

“These aren’t the only inspections we do either – we also periodically inspect railway crossings both during the day and at night, local bridges and of course maintenance and hazard inspections.

“Our roads and infrastructure are a key focus for our community and we continue to leave no stone unturned to ensure they are in the best possible condition.”

Data from Loddon Shire Council’s quarterly Road Management Plan Defect Rectification Compliance Report shows that 98.6 per cent of defects identified on shire roads between 1 January and 31 March 2025 – whether from inspections, the public or works crews – were fixed before their due date.

Caption: Night inspections are a critical part of Loddon Shire Council’s road management plan.