General News
31 October, 2022
Road repair bill in millions
LODDON Shire is facing a potential repair bill totalling tens of millions of dollars as it begins assessing damage to roads and other infrastructure. The council, that had a bill of more than $40 million after the 2011 floods, said repairs to the...
LODDON Shire is facing a potential repair bill totalling tens of millions of dollars as it begins assessing damage to roads and other infrastructure.
The council, that had a bill of more than $40 million after the 2011 floods, said repairs to the sealed road network would be a priority.
Bridgewater-Serpentine road was among the first to re-open last Friday evening.
Sections that had been dotted with deep holes or bitumen rippled or washed away have been temporarily repaired and 40kmh speed limits put in place.
Council operations director Steven Phillips said: “We will work through the sealed network making them safe and getting them open as soon as possible.
“Making safe involves placing appropriate traffic warning signs and temporary repairs where required. We will then move to our unsealed road network.
“Through our maintenance contract with Department of Transport we will also make safe and open the arterial road network as soon as possible.”
Mr Phillips said a team was being assembled to conduct an initial audit of the flood damage to the road network, commencing this week.
“The task will take several weeks and ongoing rain will hamper efforts.
“The information from the audit will feed into the Commonwealth Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements and support our claim for funding assistance.
“Permanent repairs may take some time as council will need to rely on the support of the Commonwealth and State Governments. We cannot afford to cover the cost alone for the damage to our road network.
“Once the initial network audit has been completed we will be in a better position to appreciate the potential costs and scale of the damage,” Mr Phillips said.
Other roads badly damaged include Borung-Hurstwood road near the Loddon River and Inglewood-Korong Vale road.