Heavy patching work to get underway on Coolamon Road

Published: 17 Mar 2023 11:37am

Wagga Wagga City Council is asking motorists to take extra care when travelling along Coolamon Road, with civil works machinery and crews expected to begin heavy patching of 10 localised pavement failures next week, weather permitting.

Council’s teams have been working through a backlog of both temporary and more long-term repairs to roads across our Local Government Area in the wake of last year’s prolonged wet weather and flooding events.

Director Infrastructure Services Warren Faulkner said the pavement failures on Coolamon Road resulted from the road being used as the detour for Sturt Highway traffic for approximately 8-10 weeks prior to Christmas 2022.

“Coolamon Road carried a lot of heavy traffic over the period that the Sturt Highway was closed between Collingullie and Narrandera due to flooding of the Murrumbidgee River,” Mr Faulkner said.

“We erected traffic control signs and reduced speed limits at the pavement failures whilst the road was being used as the Sturt Highway detour to warn motorists of the hazard and inform the driver of a safe speed to traverse them. Those signs are still in place.

“Council is disappointed that Transport for NSW has not undertaken any repairs of the damage which is directly attributable to the detour of the Sturt Highway.”

The Wagga Wagga LGA has 1,200 km of sealed and 1,100 km of unsealed roads to maintain.

Over the last two months, Council has completed the rehabilitation and repair of 14 segments of road, totalling 18.5-kilometres, at a cost of $8.5-million, as well as $1-million of flood repair works to the local road network.

More road works are planned in the lead up to winter, including rehabilitation of a 500-metre stretch of Bomen Road in the industrial estate, and MacLeay Street between Erin Street and Urana Street, as well as the asphalting of a number of roundabouts and intersections across the city.

Council is working with contractors on scheduling these works and will inform the community once the details are finalised.

“We ask that motorists drive to the conditions, noting that the road network is going through a significant program of repair and rehabilitation, and there will be problem areas across the network until crews can catch up on the volume of work that is required,” Mr Faulkner said.

Road Works Program