You don’t have to travel too far in this shire to find a road in need of repair.

“Outright dangerous” are words you could use to describe some roads here that have been neglected for decades.

So the Federal Government’s $1.6 billion Road to Recovery program, which includes a $2.72 million bonus for the Wingecarribee shire over four years, is most welcome.

Spending the money won’t be difficult.

But while the government’s commitment to improving local roads is worthy of recognition, the enormous weight of the funding increase (72 percent) tends to suggest that the annual allocation of funds has been nowhere near adequate for a hell of a time.

Residents of Meryla, Tugalong and Belmore Falls roads, for example, have been battling for road-works for years.

One could argue that these residents, like tens of thousands around the state, deserved a sympathetic ear long before now.

The government’s decision to spend its massive tax-induced surplus on roads does little to placate the masses struggling with the sky-high price of petrol.

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday described the roads funding as an investment in the future and he deflected the price of petrol as a “separate issue”.

Perhaps not when you consider that a new road here and there will amount to zilch for motorists who can’t afford to fill a tank with liquid gold twice a week.

The road to recovery for these people will start when the government addresses the issue of inflated petrol prices.