No more ‘hiking through floods up to your armpits’
THE pain of quickly burning through shock absorbers will soon be a thing of the past for these residents.
Byron Shire
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RESIDENTS of Grays Lane in Tyagarah are well acquainted with potholes and flooding.
But they'll soon have a smoother drive home after $2.28 million was announced for road upgrade projects in the Byron Shire.
The funds, from the Federal Government and the NSW Government's Fixing Local Roads program, will go toward the sealing and raising of the section of Grays Lane managed by Byron Shire Council - up to the border with Tyagarah Nature Reserve.
A 700m section of Seven Mile Beach Rd at Broken Head will be sealed and major work will also be undertaken on Rifle Range Road at Bangalow and on Minyon Falls Rd.
Tyagarah Community Association public officer Richard Burford said he'd been through plenty of shock absorbers in his more than 20 years of living on Grays Lane.
"We've been dealing with the road now for so long and it deteriorates and takes so much out of everybody's vehicles," Mr Burford said.
"I can honestly speak on behalf of all the residents to say they'll be absolutely thrilled by this."
Fellow resident Gwen Gould has distinct memories of "hiking through floods up to your armpits" and welcomed news the road would be raised.
She said there was some concern improving the road condition would make Tyagarah Beach more accessible to people involved in unsavoury behaviour, an ongoing issue for residents there.
"That's one concern we have, but for local residents, it's great," she said.
Kath Morgan said she and her husband had been planning to buy a 4WD as they so tired of navigating the potholes.
Byron mayor Simon Richardson said the upgrades would have been "many years away" if the council had to entirely fund them.
Ben Franklin MLC said the projects had been made possible by the strong advocacy of the council.
"That (funding) couldn't happen if you didn't have a council that was ready to go and a mayor who had been twisting my arm (and) had … brought down the GM and senior staff to Sydney to meet with the Minister," he said.
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