Lismore's flood damaged roads may take a year to fix

$30 MILLION in "urgent" repairs to roads, with landslips and culvert washouts taking priority.

Flood damaged roads in Lismore will take months to repair. Picture: Contributed Lismore City Council

LISMORE City Council has warned while flood repairs will commence soon, they may take until the end of 2018 to complete.

The council has applied for more than $30 million in natural disaster funding for urgent repairs such as landslips and culvert washouts as well as widespread but more minor repairs such as heavy pothole patching and gravel maintenance right across the Lismore Local Government Area (LGA).

Under the Commonwealth-State National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, the council must not use its own staff to undertake these flood repairs, but must issue tenders and employ contractors.

This enables the regular roads schedule to continue and ensures it is not delayed by flood repairs, however, the downside is that the process of employing contractors takes time.

The council has focused on doing emergency repairs and heavy patching since the flood to provide some relief on the worst-affected roads, but the job is enormous.

Once tenders are finalised in the next weeks and months, residents will see a hive of activity across the LGA as contractors get to work. Some repairs will happen immediately, but some of the more complicated repairs could take up to 12 months to complete.

Here is the latest update on where things are at:

General road repairs

This includes heavy patching and resealing across the whole LGA where there has been extensive flood damage. Tenders for these works are in the process of being reviewed. Work will commence by October.

Gravel maintenance

This includes gravel sheeting, re-grading and clearing remaining roadside slip debris across the whole LGA. Tenders for these works closed on September 21. The tender report is expected to be reviewed by Council at its October 10 meeting, and work will commence by November.

Major landslip/culvert repairs

There are eight priority roads that still have major landslips or culvert collapses. Geotechnical investigations and designs have now been completed and tenders for these works will be released in the next few weeks, with the tender report expected to be reviewed by Council at its November 14 meeting. Repairs are planned to commence by December.

Work will take place on the following 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

Residents can visit the roadworks section of the council website at www.lismore.nsw.gov.au for further information as it becomes available.