Drivers first noticed the southbound lane hazard months ago, which prompted the state’s road authority to impose a 40km/h speed limit, causing major delays for freight companies who rely on the busy artery to transport goods between Melbourne and Sydney.

Veteran truckie Jim Campbell, who works as a relief driver from Culcairn up to Kyeamba and Tarcutta, decided to speak out in the hope it would be repaired.

Jumping into the cabs of trucks travelling from Sydney to Melbourne at night, Mr Campbell said fellow truckies would be shocked to discover the bump.

“Every night I hear drivers say, ‘how can they have this thing on the road?’,” Mr Campbell said.

Indeed, Greater Hume Shire mayor Heather Wilton said the hazard was a concern to many in Holbrook.

“It’s pretty dangerous actually, especially if you’re on two wheels, you could go spinning through the air unless you slow right down,” she said. “They’re fixing it now thankfully, so that’s good.”

Meanwhile, works are under way to upgrade the Albury Street bridge over Ten Mile Creek in Holbrook’s CBD, which used to be the old Hume Highway’s route through town before it was bypassed in 2013.

Heavy machinery, including a massive red crane, has been deployed as workers tough it out in often stifling summer heat.

Before handing it back over to council, the road authority had inspected the bridge and discovered it had so-called concrete cancer, where steel reinforcements had started to rust.

“It would have just eventually crumbled and been not roadworthy at all and a safety risk,” Cr Wilton said. “They have to make good that bridge before they hand it back to Greater Hume Shire.”

Works should be completed by the end of March, Cr Wilton said she had been told. But she suspected it could be longer given they started late in November.