The $5.6 million rehabilitation of Dobney Avenue and Pearson Street will get underway next Wednesday (20 April), weather permitting.
Wagga Wagga City Council has contracted Fulton Hogan to carry out night works on Dobney Avenue (between Edward Street and the roundabout into Bunnings) and Pearson Street (between the roundabout at Edward Street/Pearson Street to Cheshire Street) that includes the two roundabouts outside Bunnings.
The rehabilitation project is expected to take approximately nine weeks to complete, depending on the weather conditions.
Council’s Director Infrastructure Services Warren Faulkner said the works will start on Dobney Avenue, followed by Pearson Street, and then the roundabouts outside Bunnings.
“The work will involve milling out the existing road pavement and then putting in a thick layer of asphaltic concrete pavement,” Mr Faulkner said.
“Works will be undertaken in approximately 100 metre segments on alternate sides of the road for each night shift, a similar process to the way the Lake Albert Road upgrade was done.
“The first shift (on the evening of 20 April) will be at the Sturt Highway end of Dobney Avenue and the crews will work their way along Dobney Avenue to Chaston Street.
“Once that’s completed, they will overlay the entire length of Dobney Avenue with a continuous asphaltic concrete wearing layer.”
The whole process will then be repeated on Pearson Street and at the roundabouts.
The upgrade will be undertaken between 6pm and 6am in order to minimise inconvenience to the adjoining businesses as well as motorists.
Detours and traffic control will be in place. When works are being carried out in Dobney Avenue, traffic will be detoured via Pearson Street and likewise, when works are being carried out on Pearson Street, traffic will be detoured via Dobney Avenue.
For delivery drivers or access to businesses between 6pm and 6am, traffic controllers at the site will assist with access where practicable.
Mr Faulkner said Council understands that these works have the potential to be quite disruptive, but he believes the project will deliver major benefits for the whole community.
“These are two of the busiest roads in our city’s sub-arterial network, with upward of 16,000 vehicles movements per day on Pearson Street, and around 5,500 on Dobney Avenue,” Mr Faulkner said.
“They are important movement corridors for a lot of commercial vehicles travelling from the south to the north, and vice versa, via Glenfield Road, and that has been impacting their surface.
“The rehabilitation works will deliver a smoother ride and improve safety for road users by renewing the current rough surface and improve environmental factors such as noise reduction and the flow of surface water.”
The $5.6 million project is being 75 per cent funded by the NSW Government through its Fixing Local Roads program, with Wagga Wagga City Council providing the balance.
