Access to Silvalite Reserve temporarily restricted during ATP works
Published: 28 Aug 2020 10:47am
Access to the Silvalite Reserve will be restricted for several weeks as work gets underway on a section of the Kapooka Link of Wagga Wagga City Council’s Active Travel Plan.
Construction of 1.5-kilometre asphalt concrete path along the existing Wiradjuri Trail through the Reserve began on Thursday (27 August) and will be carried out in two stages by contractors, Fulton Hogan.
Council’s Project Officer Henry Collie said signs have been put up to warn Reserve users about the restricted access to the construction zone.
“It is really important the public takes extra care when using this area as there will be a lot of heavy vehicles and machinery on site during the project,” Mr Collie said.
“For the first stage, we are working on a 700-metre section of the path north of the Olympic Highway underpass near Kapooka, which we’ve closed off to the public while that is carried out.
“People can still enter the northern part of the Reserve from the Red Hill Road end, but that will also be closed off when we begin work on that section of the path in Stage Two.”
Site preparation works began last week, including building a new crossing over the creek which runs through the reserve and trimming trees and shrubs along the path.
Council’s Project Coordinator Gyanendra Regmi said these were necessary to ensure all-weather access for the machinery and heavy vehicles involved in the project.
“The first phase of the construction process will be boxing out the path at the southern end, using a grader to dig 150mm into the ground of the existing surface, before building it back up with road base and compacting it,” Mr Regmi said.
“We will then do the same to the northern stretch of the path before sealing both sections with asphalt.”
The seven-kilometre Kapooka Link is part of a 45 km network of dedicated cycle paths which will link Wagga’s outer suburbs with the CBD and end-of-trip facilities, under the Active Travel Plan project.
You can find out more information about the Commuter Cycling Network - Active Travel Plan project here.