Which isn't surprising.

A new safety assessment commissioned by VicRoads finds that sections of Rosanna Road are 2.6-metres wide and the width of a B-Double truck is 2.5 metres, "not including mirrors".

"Someone is going to get killed," says Natasha Reifschneider​, president of local lobby group Resolve Rosanna Road. The group is lobbying for the road to be dramatically upgraded - and eventually replaced by a new tollway.

"No one has tried to improve the situation. Every time a pole has been hit it has been put back in exactly the same spot."

A telephone pole after being hit by a truck on Rosanna Road, Heidelberg. Supplied

Problems for the 38,000 motorists who use the road daily led VicRoads to commission the report into its safety.

The results are damning - and will renew pressure on the Andrews government to proceed with the long-discussed North-East Link, a $6 billion tollway from Greensborough to EastLink.

The safety assessment for VicRoads finds there have been 75 crashes on the often clogged arterial road in the past five years - 15 of them resulting in serious injuries.

A heat map of Rosanna Road showing the location of the 75 crashes on the road in the past five years.

It recommends relocating power poles or putting them underground at a cost of more than $50 million, judging the poles to "represent a significant risk to errant motorists".

It finds that, because Rosanna Road is so narrow, large trucks "occupy almost the entire traffic lane", pushing cars into "less desirable locations".

And the safety report recommends VicRoads consider "shielding power poles with safety barriers" - but also points out that sections of the narrow four-lane road don't have enough space to fit the barriers.

VicRoads also should consider cutting down trees close to the road and installing elevated barrier kerbs to protect pedestrians, the assessment finds. And it suggests reducing the speed limit on the 60km/h road in sections.

It finds street lighting is "inadequate [and] may have been a contributing factor" in crashes on the road.

"The public is at serious risk, and the government can't pretend to not know anymore," says Ms Reifschneider, whose group has documented countless accidents and near misses in recent years.

Banyule Council also wants the road upgraded. Councillor Tom Melican says the report exposes VicRoads' "complete lack of long-term planning".

"If they had a solution, they would have implemented it by now," says Cr Melican.

Vince Punaro​, a VicRoads' regional director, says the road authority is "examining ways to address congestion and safety concerns of residents, traders and industry on Rosanna Road".

Transport groups say the problems of Rosanna Road can be remedied in the short term, but more drastic solutions - a massive new toll road - will be the real solution.

"Rosanna Road is serving as a pseudo-link for the Western Ring Road," says Brian Negus from the RACV, which lists the North-East Link as Melbourne's most urgently needed road project.

Asked whether the North-East Link should be built, a spokeswoman for Roads Minister Luke Donnellan did not answer the question, instead pointing to projects elsewhere in Melbourne being considered or under way.

But Treasurer Tim Pallas in April said "an outer suburban high capacity freeway network I think has a lot of merit to it".

As the Brumby government's roads minister, Mr Pallas supported construction of the North-East Link. The project was abandoned when the Baillieu government came to power, with all effort being put into the now dumped East-West Link.