Fires delay start of road works

Bushfire fighting efforts in recent weeks involving Wagga City Council staff and resources have impacted the progress of some local projects and resulted in unforeseen delays.

Council has committed resources, including heavy machinery such as graders and water trucks, to bushfire efforts in areas around Tarcutta, Tumbarumba, Batlow and Adelong.

Providing this assistance to the Rural Fire Service has stretched Council resources and resulted in revised timeframes on various works.

Acting Director Commercial Operations Henry Pavitt said priority was given to the bushfires and thanked the community for its patience and understanding as Council gets back to work on local projects.

One of the projects pushed back from the original advertised starting date was the Truscott Drive pavement rehabilitation.

“The fire effort disruption has completely thrown out the pavement rehabilitation program,” Mr Pavitt said.

“Each time we hoped to make a start and meet the appropriate notification timeframes, our resources were occupied by the RFS.

“Plant was damaged in the fires and requires repair prior to deploying on to the road pavement projects.

“Our staff also worked through their planned holidays to keep battling these blazes and now they have taken time off to spend with their families. This has split up teams and resources are operating at a minimum until things return to normal.”

Mr Pavitt said the first stages of road rehabilitation projects is to undertake services location in which people will only see a locating vac truck and crew, and no heavy machinery.

Programs are expected to return to normal with the full resourcing of Council operations teams next week.

Truscott Drive service locating will continue through to mid-February.