September 26, 2018
South Burnett Regional Council has unveiled a new plan to fix the region’s roads, and has promised to deliver significant improvements within a year.
The plan was explained to 22 residents on Monday night at the Nanango Cultural Centre during Council’s first “Listening Tour” meeting for the year.
Roads Portfolio chair Cr Gavin Jones told the audience the Council now has detailed data on the state of all the South Burnett’s roads, thanks to the automated Road Asset Condition Assessment System (RACAS) it purchased last year.
This data has been used to draw up a plan which Council believes will lead to substantial improvements in the region’s road networks over the next year.
Cr Jones said Council work crews would carry out full gravel resheeting of between 200km and 300km of unsealed roads over the coming year, and dry grade the balance of the 1500km unsealed road network.
The following year, it would resheet a further 200km-300km and dry grade the balance, continuing this process for up to five years.
Cr Jones said the plan meant all the region’s unsealed roads would see a grader at least once during the coming year, and some high traffic roads were likely to see a grader more than once.
He said the Council now had six graders, and five of them would be put on permanent road maintenance duties.
The region’s 1500km sealed road network will also receive attention, with reseals being undertaken on a number of badly worn sections.
On Tuesday, Mayor Keith Campbell told southburnett.com.au the RACAS data – and Council’s road engineering practices – had both been scrutinised by external engineering consultants.
He said this had led to improvements in the way Council work crews would approach future road maintenance tasks.
The Mayor said he was confident the new system would lead to a big reduction in road complaints as the plan was rolled out around the region, barring a natural disaster such as the 2011 or 2013 floods.
He said the new road maintenance program had already begun.
This week, resheeting and maintenance will be carried out on Weekes Road at Boonenne and Jorgensens Road at Greenview; while Mundubbera-Durong Road at Brigooda and Memerambi-Barkers Creek Road at Wattle Camp will receive gravel resheeting and maintenance.
Bullcamp-Runnymede Road at Bullcamp will receive a maintenance grade; Old Wondai Road at Wattle Camp will receive a heavy maintenance grade; and a pedestrian bridge will be installed at Haly Street in Wondai.
This year the Council has budgeted to invest almost $26 million into the region’s 3000km road network.
This will include a record $4.56 million spend on gravel resheeting, and $3 million on bitumen reseals.
The Council will also spend $6.75 million on road maintenance – up $1 million on last year’s spend.
Residents who want to hear more details about the road plan should attend their local ‘Listening Tour’ meeting.
The rest of these meetings will be held on:
- Tuesday, September 25 – Blackbutt Memorial Hall, Bowman Road, Blackbutt
- Wednesday, October 3 – Maidenwell Hall, Pool Street, Maidenwell
- Thursday, October 4 – Kumbia Memorial Hall, Bell Street, Kumbia
- Monday, October 8 – Wondai Town Hall, Mackenzie Street, Wondai
- Tuesday, October 9 – Kingaroy Town Common Hall, Oliver Bond Street, Kingaroy
- Thursday, October 18 – Murgon Town Hall, Gore Street, Murgon
- Monday, October 22 – Durong Hall, Wondai-Chinchilla Road, Durong
- Tuesday, October 23 – Proston Community Hall, Rodney Street, Proston
Doors will open at all venues at 5:30pm for a 6:00pm start, and a light supper will be served.
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