Roads to Recovery program to benefit Forbes

The funding is part of a five year program to improve local roads commencing this financial year, with an annual allocation of $853,125 and a double allocation occurring in 2015/16.

Forbes Shire Council’s general manager Brian Steffen said it’s a win for local roads.

“It’s great that the federal government has provided this double boost for the Roads to Recovery funding,” he said.

“We care about our roads and are putting a big investment towards them with the help of the state and federal government.”

Council has identified a number of priority roads which they plan to put the money towards.

The number one priorities are the 

rehabilitation and widening of Driftway Road, the rehabilitation and widening of Wirrinya Road and the rehabilitation of Battye Street.

However they also need to continue working on the Northern Bypass and have applied for multiple grant allocations, so depending on whether they are successful, council will also need to allocate money towards that project.

Mr Steffen said the first priority is the Driftway Road project, which will commence this financial year, sometime towards the second quarter.

There is a 5.25km section of Driftway Road that is deficient in width with the shoulders devoid of gravel, however the sealed surface is still in good condition, so this section will only need widening which is estimated to cost $540,000.

There is also a 1.4km section of the road that needs to be wider but also has failing pavement. This section will need to be completely rehabilitated which is estimated to cost $305,000.

The widening of the Wirrinya Road is hoped to commence in the 2015/16 financial year.

Wirrinya Road is the main route linking Wirrinya and the surrounding area to Forbes and has high traffic volumes.

In the last five years, council has upgraded three narrow sections of the road, however there is a 3km section remaining that isn’t wide enough.

Also along this section, the shoulders are devoid of gravel and the pavement is cracking, so it will need complete rehabilitation and widening which is estimated to cost $790,000.

Finally, Battye Street will also be rehabilitated in the 2015/16 financial year as it is very rough and the kerb and gutter will need to be replaced, which is estimated to cost $290,000.

With those estimated costs there is $634,375 left for the northern bypass project.

Each of these projects are based on feedback that council has received from road users and the community, as well as a lot of planning by the engineering department.

At the November council meeting on Thursday, councillors moved the recommendations to rehabilitate and widen these three projects but also decided to do a shire tour of all roads.

Councillor Phyllis Miller suggested the idea as this council hadn’t done a tour, so moved that councillors get a bus and go out as a team to look at a whole range of different roads in the shire.

Cr Miller said the Roads to Recovery funding was a great thing and made the cutbacks to the Financial Assistance Grants easier to understand.

“After hearing the rhetoric behind the government making that decision, I think it’s very good,” she said

“They’ve doubled the Roads to Recovery funding and roads are very important to local councils and this has allowed the government with these funds to prioritise where they want us to spend the extra money - they want the road network across the country improved.”