Months of intermittent rain and two flooding events have left Dungog's roads decimated by potholes.
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A concerned citizen, Greg Mudie, expressed his frustration and worry about the safety of Dungog's roads in a Facebook post on Thursday, July 21.
"Ok. I now fear for my life," Mr Mudie said in his post. "I have been loathe to comment on the state of our roads, but the pothole situation is out of control."
Mr Mudie later walked back those statements in a post on Saturday, July 23, after council did work to repair the specific road he was talking about, Chichester Dam road.
These two posts seemingly touched a nerve for the Dungog community, cumulatively getting more than 300 likes and 120 comments.
"Those posts that I put up last week were out of sheer desperation," Mr Mudie said.
"Honestly, I tolerate the bad roads but they were so dangerous."
But trouble with Dungog's roads aren't anything new, according to Mr Mudie.
"I got here three years ago and the drive into Dungog was horrendous. I was shocked because I'd never really seen roads like it anywhere," He said.
"My immediate impression of coming into town was that the roads were shocking. It gives you the impression that nobody cares."
Many long-term residents claim that issues regarding Dungog's roads have been ongoing for more 40 years, according to Mr Mudie.
However, since his arrival in town Mr Mudie has seen improvements as Dungog Shire Council has more money to spend on roads.
For Mr Mudie, it's the roads that come into Dungog that deserve the most amount of work as it is the first impression for tourists and visitors.
"Tourism is very important to this town now we don't have too much industry, people aren't going to come back," He said.
"Bikies, you don't see too many of them around lately, the roads are just so bad and dangerous that they do not come into town as often as they used to. They provide good money for Dungog."
In addition, the state of the roads are a safety concern for Mr Mudie who said some of the potholes throughout the shire were so bad that they spanned entire lanes, forcing cars to go onto the wrong side of the road.
Despite this, Mr Mudie acknowledges that council face the problem of an expansive road network and not very much money to fund its maintenance - a view shared by Dungog Shire Council.
"We have a roads repair bill that far exceeds our budget, so balancing the urgent maintenance works required while still delivering our essential services and capital upgrade works is always a juggle," a representative from Dungog Council said.
In response to the two flooding events that the Shire has experienced this year Dungog Council has purchased a second bitumen patching truck and have them both working six days per week.
The council has also enabled the use of a third hand patching crew where it's been available.
Another concerned citizen, Deryck Edwards is more critical of the situation regarding roads.
"The roads are disgraceful at the moment," Mr Edwards said.
"Like most Shires they're bad but they were bad before the rain so they're a lot worse now."
Mr Edwardswas concerned of the quality of the repairs made in the past, specifically Gresford Road and Clarence Town Road.
"They're the two newest roads that the Shire has done and we've got potholes appearing in brand new surfaces," Mr Edwards said.
"Million dollar repairs and there's potholes in them already."
Mr Edwards also understands the cost restrictions that Dungog Shire Council faces, however for Mr Edwards this doesn't detract from the resulting damaged roads.
"I can understand they're trying to get value for money but there's a point that you lose that value for money," he said.
In the meantime, Dungog Council has encouraged all motorists to drive carefully given the conditions of the roads.