Pothole offer from Northern Beaches Council to NSW Government: “We’ll fix your main roads’
While drivers complain about the number of potholes still plaguing main roads on the northern beaches, the council has made an offer to the NSW Government to solve the problem.
Manly
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Frustrated Northern Beaches mayor Michael Regan has made an offer for the council to urgently fix hundreds of potholes that should be repaired by the NSW Government.
Cr Regan has told Transport for NSW that council crews — who have already removed more than 3000 potholes on local streets — could get rid of the damage on major road arteries like Wakehurst Parkway and Pittwater Rd.
He told state transport officials that the council would do the work on the government-managed roads, hit by intense rain events earlier this year and simply send it the bill for the cost.
The mayor has even said the council would mow the grass and weeds now exploding into mini-jungles along untidy looking median strips on the state-controlled roadways.
But Cr Regan has confirmed that the government has “yet to take us up on the offer”.
He told one ratepayer that the issue is “doing my head in”.
But Transport for NSW says it is unaware of the council offering to repair potholes on state roads in the Northern Beaches LGA and offering to invoice TfNSW for those repairs.
And that in July, TfNSW notified the council of planned road repairs on the Wakehurst Parkway at Frenchs Forest, which are due to start later this month.
“The relentless rain has done untold damage to our roads and ours crews have been working hard to get on top of every pothole reported,” Cr Regan told the Manly Daily on Thursday.
“We continue to field a lot of complaints about potholes on state government managed roads, especially at the Barrenjoey Bends and Wakehurst Parkway.
“We really need faster action from state authorities to fix these problems. Their contractors don’t seem to be able to keep up.
“I have even offered for our staff to do the work on these roads, and directly bill the State Government, but they are yet to take us up on the offer.
“These (rain) events may well become more frequent. What we used to do in the past does not work and we need to consider different approaches such as the one I have suggested. ”
From July this year the council has had 3386 road maintenance requests from the public. In the period from July 2021 to now, it has logged 8,105 requests for local roads to be repaired.
It is currently addressing 222 outstanding requests.
The council has also logged around about 200 requests to TfNSW for works on their roads.
In September the council was advised that the NSW Government would be closing Wakehurst Pky at night, for about 17 nights, starting on September 25, so potholes could be fixed and for “road pavement reconstruction” to be undertaken.
A TfnSW spokesmansaid said its roads maintenance service provider has met monthly with Northern Beaches Council since September 2021.
Repairs on Wakehurst Parkway at Frenchs Forest will replace a 2.84-kilometre stretch of asphalt between Judith Street and Aquatic Drive.
As part of the Natural disaster funding, Transport for NSW has provided Northern Beaches Council with a $5 million advance payment for emergency works following the flooding event in February/March 2022.
These works include pothole repairs and debris removal under the NSW Natural Disaster Essential Public Asset Restoration Guidelines on Local and Regional Roads under the care and control of Northern Beaches Council.
Since July 2021, Transport for NSW has repaired 553 potholes on state roads in the Northern Beaches LGA and as of Thursday 3 November 2022, there are seven potholes outstanding. The public can report damage to local roads via the council’s Customer Service number 1300 434 434 or online here.
If a pothole is on a main road contact Transport for NSW, click here.
NSW Government roads on the northern beaches are:
Beach Road
Ocean Road
Barrenjoey Road
Pittwater Road
Warringah Road
Condamine Street (Brookvale to Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation)
Burnt Bridge Creek Deviation and Myrtle Street overpass
Forest Way
Wakehurst Parkway
Mona Vale Road
McCarrs Creek Road (From Terrey Hills to McCarrs Creek Reserve)
Liberator General San Martin Drive
Sydney Road
Belgrave Street
Manly Road
Frenchs Forest Road (in Seaforth)
.
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