June 14, 2022
Heavy rain and flash flooding in November, January, February and May have left the South Burnett Regional Council with a $20 million road repair bill.
While the costs will be paid through Federal-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), the need to extensively document damage at each site is slowing repair efforts.
A Council spokesperson said work crews were only allowed to carry out temporary road repairs where public safety was at risk.
Complete repairs could not begin until each project received DRFA approval.
Because of this, the Council believes it could take until August to inspect all 4400 roads in its 3000km road network and it could take as long as two years to fully repair all the recent road damage.
Since November, more than 2600 sites have been repaired under Emergency Works provisions, with Council staff working overtime and RDOs to address problems.
But last month’s rain means the region’s entire road network needs to be inspected again from scratch.
The spokesperson said repairs would again be prioritised for safety.
Temporary works would remove safety hazards but motorists should be aware that road conditions would remain at a lower standard for some time.
Council has appointed a sub-contractor crew to clear blocked road culverts around the road network. A second crew will join them early next month.
A contractor has also been engaged to carry out heavy formation grading, gravelling and table drain reshaping on 14 roads:
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The same contractor will also undertake pavement reconstruction and sealing works on Memerambi-Barkers Creek Road and Nanango-Brooklands Road, with all works planned to be completed by the end of June.
Dig out and repair works will also be carried on the following 18 sealed roads:
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Full repairs to another 35 roads have been approved by DRFA. Council has engaged a contractor to carry out these works but a completion date has yet to be set:
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The last third of Crumpton Drive in Blackbutt, damaged in the 2011 floods, is still awaiting repairs – 11 years after the event! Therefore, I wish all the residents along the mentioned roads which have been damaged in 2022 A LOT OF PATIENCE. Don’t expect the work will be done within two years as this article quotes – rather expect 12 years. One just wonders what the flood grant money received in 2011 has been used for.
I can assure your readers that any money received for flood recovery is spent on roads. Yes, it is a process to inspect road damage and adhere to the rules. Patience is needed.
The recent rains were a disaster for Council roads and many businesses. Not just in the South Burnett. Regrettably, these disasters are a factual reality of life. It will most likely happen again sometime in the future.
Advice from me is to work with the system and be patient. Being negative and frustrated disregards the great work and responsibility that Council’s Engineering and Roads Department undertake. They have governance compliancy and rules that they need to adopt to ensure they are operating within the rules of State and Federal politics.
I’d agree with Keith on this. It took a long time to recover from the 2011 and 2013 floods but the Council eventually did it, despite having to wait as long as 18 months (in some cases) to get DRFA funds.
However, if Council intends to inspect all the region’s roads then they’ll have to inspect Crumpton Drive and if it’s damaged, lodge a claim to get it fixed. But if they don’t, you should get on to the Roads portfolio chairman about it (ie Cr Gavin Jones). He’s also your local councillor.