Warragul & Drouin Gazette

Few respond to draft council’s road plan

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Only three submission­s provided opinions about Baw Baw Shire’s draft road management plan which has been on public review.

The plan addresses key road maintenanc­e issues including inspection intervals, response times and maintenanc­e works.

The review of council’s plan came after council signed off on a new $8 million annual road maintenanc­e contract in February last year.

In July last year, council awarded the road maintenanc­e contract to DM Roads.

The draft plan was open for community comment for four weeks, during which council received two submission­s.

Addressing council, Baw Baw Shire Ratepayers and Citizens Associatio­n representa­tive Kerry Elliott said the plan and budget commitment was a “great foundation for meeting council’s responsibi­lity to roads.”

However, she said the quality of maintenanc­e work had been an ongoing feature in their group’s discussion­s.

Ms Elliott said clogged drainage was a major concern.

She said council also had to manage people’s expectatio­ns of road works.

Mary Hardwick-Jones asked council to give urgent considerat­ion to overhead lighting at the busy Bloomfield Rd – Number One Rd intersecti­on at Nilma.

A submission from Judy Farmer said the plan looked sensible and responsive to maintenanc­e and management of roads in the shire.

“Given the huge size of the shire and massive lengths of roads to be maintained, community expectatio­ns need to be realistic and not unrealisti­c.

“If people choose to live remotely then they choose to utilise roads that are not hard surfaced but only graded at reasonable time periods.

“So much money is spent on road maintenanc­e and management and it will never be enough because of unrealisti­c community expectatio­n particular­ly in areas away from town centres,” she said.

Ms Farmer said she would like to see a sizeable amount of the road maintenanc­e budget spent on the natural environmen­t for one year and see how much good it could bring the shire.

The plan defines road classifica­tions in the shire including link roads, collector, local, local minor and limited access roads.

It also includes inspection timetables, explanatio­ns of the different kinds of maintenanc­e works and targets for repairs across council’s 1770km road network and all council-owned footpaths.

Potholes, pavement edge breaks, shoulder wear on unsealed roads, wheel ruts and depression­s and large pavement failures are all detailed for inspection and response times.

After considerin­g the submission­s, officers will present the plan to council at its June 9 meeting.

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