Is your road the most expensive to fix?

LISMORE's most expensive roads to fix following Cyclone Debbie.

A landslip and road damage on Wyrallah Road caused by recent heavy rain continues to leave Wyrallah closed to the public. Picture: Kelly McIlvenny

TUESDAY 4.34pm: WHILE the State Government has approved stage one of the natural disaster application, there is still a bit of work Lismore City Council must complete before construction can begin.

Lismore City Council's Executive Director Infrastructure Services Gary Murphy said they need to complete a geo-tech investigation and a cost analysis of the repairs and receive approval from the RMS before they can begin work on Lismore's worst roads.

"The process we need to go through is to complete the geo-tech investigations, get some cost estimates and then that would need to be approved by RMS or disaster funding," Mr Murphy said.

"We hope that we will get them a long way progressed in the next two to three months," Mr Murphy said.

"We would hope that we will be on the ground doing things to rectify roads within a few weeks of getting notifications from RMS."

Lismore Council said these roads are the most expensive roads to fix in the road network following Cyclone Debbie:

• Oakland Road
• Terania Creek Road
• Wyrallah Road
• Blue Knob Road
• Riverbank Road
• Tuntable Creek Road

FAST FACTS ON ROAD REPAIRS:

• The total length of Lismore road network amounts to approximately 1200km: 780km bitumen and 420km gravel
• In the last 12 months the council filled 40,907 potholes
• Average cost to fix one kilometre of sealed road is: $56,000 to resurface and $1 million to rehabilitate
• Average cost to grade one kilometre of gravel road is $3000
• Average kms of sealed road fixed each year is 94km: 80km resurfacing and 5km rehabilitation
• Average kilometres of gravel road graded each year is 345km - however, not all roads are graded at the same frequency.
   

TUESDAY 12.42pm: IT could take years for Lismore to repair damage caused to its roads network in the March flood.

It was estimated more than $30 million worth of damage occured to the 1200km of council roads due to major landslips and culvert washouts.

So far the council has prioritised emergency repairs and patching since the flood to provide some relief.

The council has submitted a two-stage natural disaster application to the NSW Government.

Stage one is for immediate rural roads with significant damage and stage two is for all other repairs across the road network.

Under the Commonwealth-State National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, flood repairs are required to be undertaken by contractors.

This is to ensure the council can continue its normal roadworks program and not neglect other roads that also need attention.

The NSW Government has approved funding for the first claim of eight priority roads.

• Boatharbour Road
• Keerrong Road (x2)
• Koonorigan Road (x2)
• Oakey Creek Road
• Caniaba Road
• Terania Creek Road (x4)
• Mountain Top Road (x2)
• Tuntable Creek Road

Work on these roads is expected to begin in the next month or two, with the aim to have the roads completed by the end of 2018.

Stage two of the flood disaster claim is still awaiting approval from the State Government and is predicted to take two years to complete.

The council hopes to have an answer by the end of August, so they can commence the process of engaging contractors to undertake the repairs.

Once the natural disaster funding comes through, residents will see a hive of activity across the council area as contractors get to work.

Schedules and timelines will be updated on the website www.lismore.nsw.gov.au