Pothole poll pledge to secure state's roads

Potholes will be taken to the polls as a state's premier pledges $352 million to fix half a million holes, while the opposition says it's too little too late.

Victorian Labor Premier Ben Carroll has announced delays to the completion of three level crossings to double the number of potholes fixed on the state's roads.

"The condition of our roads is not good enough," Mr Carroll said on Sunday.

"I respect your money and I have made commonsense decisions to show how we can afford it."

He said planners had identified $112 million in savings by deferring the completion of level crossing removals in Highett and Mentone by one year, which will be added to the state budget's $1.4 billion allocation for roads.

Doubling the number of potholes fixed from 250,000 to 500,000 within the next financial year will cost the state $352 million, he said.

"This is part of my new direction: to spend our money wisely, to focus relentlessly on the basics, and that is what I'm here to do," Mr Carroll told reporters.

He said most of the potholes will be removed when the weather is driest, in the second half of this year and into January.

Key Victorian arterial roads will be prioritised, including the Geelong Ring Road, Western Highway, Calder Highway and Princes Highway, and regional roads.

Shadow Minister for Police Brad Battin questioned the timing of Mr Carroll's announcement, given an election is set for November 28, and claimed Labor had "neglected" roads for 12 years.

"Five minutes before an election and all of a sudden Ben Carroll has found there's potholes in Victoria," he told reporters on Sunday.

"And now he's come out with a small patch fix for a major problem in Victoria."

In July, the Liberal-National opposition pledged to invest $5 billion over four years to repair and rebuild Victoria's roads, including the elimination of one million potholes.

Victorian voter's top concerns about re-electing Labor were corruption and integrity failures, financial mismanagement and debt, union influence and crime, according to a poll released by Roy Morgan on August 11.