Professor Jayantha Kodikara links potholes to road design
Potholes need more than surface repairs, according to a Monash University engineering expert who commented after a fatal motorcycle crash near Trawalla in central-western Victoria.
Professor Jayantha Kodikara said potholes were more than a maintenance problem. Once road deterioration reaches that stage, he said, it can become a serious safety issue.
“The recent fatal motorcycle crash near Trawalla is a tragic reminder that potholes are not simply a maintenance inconvenience. Once road deterioration reaches this stage, it can become a serious safety issue,” Kodikara said.
Kodikara is a civil and environmental engineering expert in Monash University’s Faculty of Engineering. He is also director of Monash’s SPARC, or Smart Pavements Australia Research Collaboration, Hub.
Rather than only filling holes after they appear, road managers should also address the causes beneath the surface. Those causes include pavement design, moisture, construction quality and maintenance conditions.
“Potholes should be treated as a symptom, not a disease,” Kodikara said.
According to Kodikara, Australia has relied on thin-sealed unbound pavements for decades. However, traffic and climate conditions are changing.
As a result, authorities need to reassess where those pavements remain the best solution. In some places, stronger surfacing and pavement systems may offer better whole-of-life value.
2023 submissions on road resilience
In 2023, the SPARC Hub made written and in-person submissions to Victorian and federal parliamentary inquiries on road infrastructure resilience.
Kodikara also pointed to the way vehicle mix changes the damage pattern. Conventional pavement design focuses on heavy vehicles because truck axle loads dominate structural damage when the pavement is sound.
After severe cracking and potholes develop, repeated passes by the much larger number of light vehicles can also speed up edge breakup and enlarge the defect.
Beyond pavement design, Kodikara’s research covers climate change impacts on the interaction of soil, atmosphere and infrastructure. His work also includes shrinkage and deterioration of cemented materials, prediction of pavement deterioration from traffic and environmental loadings, pipeline failures and geotechnical resilience.
Monash University offered Kodikara for comment on 16 September 2026.
