New Council’s first priority to fix immediate road damage

2022 01 18 Councillors inspecting roads Michelago.jpg

Our region’s new Councillors are visiting and seeing first-hand the extent of damage to our road network from the continuous wet weather, visiting Michelago, Burra Rd and the flood damage to Tinderry Bridge site earlier this week.

Snowy Monaro Regional Council is committed to understanding the extent of road and bridge damage so that works are prioritised and effectively utilise available funding.

“Our Council has secured disaster relief funding from the NSW State Government to address the immediate impacts of the unprecedented wet weather the Snowy Monaro has experienced in recent months,” said Mayor Narelle Davis, Snowy Monaro Regional Council.

She explained that Council employees have been working relentlessly to deal with the most urgent problems on our region’s roads following this summer’s extreme rain events. Properties were left cut-off from the road network, important regional thoroughfares were left impassable, and bridges and causeways were destroyed by surging creeks and rivers.

“The focus for the short-term work now is on access for residents and services, plus safety,” said Mayor Davis.

As these immediate and critical issues are addressed, more and more roads across the region will be brought back to an acceptable short-term standard. While this remediation is underway, Council will be working to prioritise the long-term plan for our region’s road network and to secure appropriate funding to get the work done as soon as possible.

Across our region’s 15,162 square kilometres, Council is responsible for the maintenance of a road network of 2,467.68km, of which 1,702.15km are unsealed. Council is further responsible for the maintenance of 95 different bridges, 65 of which are on unsealed roads. 34 of these are timber bridges.

On Monday 24 January 2022, some of the Councillors will be visiting Bombala to further understand the extent of damage to the roads in the south of the region.

/Public Release. View in full here.