The rains came. The road repairs washed away. It’s a frustratingly familiar story for residents and Council’s road repair crews.
No one likes potholes. They’re one of the most common resident complaints and the Kempsey Shire sealed and unsealed road network is suffering along with the entire country, particularly after recent wet weather events.
Kempsey Shire Council Maintenance Engineer, Justin Davis, said the backlog of repairs confirms our crews are up against a huge task, and they must prioritise the areas of higher speed, traffic volumes and bus routes first.
“We understand this can be frustrating for residents travelling on roads that are in need of repairs,” said Mr Davis.
“Please spare a thought for crews who are once again returning to the same locations they recently repaired after the flood and heavy rainfall washed their hard work away.”
At this stage, Kempsey Shire Council’s goal is to keep roads safe by planning pothole repairs as quickly as possible. Council’s dedicated crews work hard to keep our roads open throughout the year, especially during continuous wet and severe weather, fixing surface defects as quickly as possible to stop the road from further deterioration.
Patching work is a quick fix and entirely weather dependent. With this in mind, many residents may wonder why Council don’t just rip up the roads and redo them.
“When the road is badly damaged, we need to rehabilitate the road and this is when we bring in the heavy machinery, remove the existing road pavement and return the road to good as new.”
“This type of large-scale road repair is expensive, time-consuming and not possible during wet weather, so our crews patch potholes using the best available option.”
To repair one kilometre of road costs around $1 million and with a road network that stretches over 1,200 kilometres, this just simply isn’t an option.
“Council is doing the best it can in these incredibly hard times and ask for patience and understanding of the challenges we are currently facing.”
