Clarence Valley Council gets $4m funding boost as expensive work underway to repair flood-ravaged road network
The staggering amount of resources used and number of crews working to fix the Clarence Valley’s pothole-plagued roads have been revealed amid an ongoing “road emergency”.
Grafton
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Clarence Valley Council is set to receive more than $4 million from the state government after the Mayor and the GM exclaimed shoddy roads were Grafton area’s biggest challenge.
The funding to fix the district’s pothole-plagued road network is part of a $500 million statewide Regional and Local Roads Repair Program.
The local government area has been struggling to stay on top of road repairs, particularly after widespread flooding in NSW early last year.
Mayor Ian Tiley and general manager Laura Black previously raised their concerns about flood-ravaged roads and the lack of money available to fix the problem.
Asked about repairs, Ms Black said: “The Clarence Valley LGA has faced six natural disaster declaration events since August 2019, leaving little time in between to repair damage to road and community infrastructure.”
“The February/March 2022 severe weather and flood event and continued rain through to November 2022 exacerbated damage sustained following the three storm and flood events in the prior 14 months.
“It is now unaffordable for local government and ratepayers to cover the increased repair cost of the compounded damage to road infrastructure without state and federal government assistance.”
About $15 million has already been spent on road repairs since the 2022 floods.
More than 20 contractor crews have worked daily in addition to the council’s own staff, according to the council.
More than 35,000 tonnes of flood mud has been removed from the road corridor equating to about 3000 truckloads.
About 115,000 tonnes of gravel re-sheeting material has been placed on unsealed roads, compared to the average annual program of about 20,000 tonnes.
“Our focus has been on betterment and improving the resilience of the network to future events and we have been very proactive in accessing more than $42 million in disaster recovery funds made available since early 2022,” Ms Black said.
“We are also taking advantage of the additional funding of approximately $850,000 through the Fixing Local Roads Pothole Grant awarded to us in late 2022 to assist with the ongoing repairs on the road network.”
The update from the council comes less than two months after Clarence Valley and other councils throughout the state joined Local Government NSW and the Country Mayors Association in declaring a Statewide Road Emergency.
The declaration included calls for a significant increase in funding for the Fixing Local Roads program.
Mayor Tiley welcomed the latest funding boost.
“While Premier Perrottet’s announcement is welcomed by Clarence Valley Council, the Statewide Road Emergency remains as local government statewide is faced with billions of dollars damage to road infrastructure,” he said.
“The Clarence Valley LGA is over 10,000sq km with a road network of approximately 2500km.
“With cost to reconstruct estimated at over $1 million per kilometre, many more millions could be spent on our road network to bring it to a standard considered satisfactory to the community.”
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