Orange City Council will undertake more than $8 million in road works over the next two
years - more than double the original budget.
The expanded budget and road program was unanimously supported by the latest Council meeting (18 October). The additional work has been identified through road condition assessments in the Asset
Management Plan and funded through the Asset Renewal and Replacement Reserve.
The program focuses on improvements to high traffic roads across the city such as
William Street/Leeds Parade,
Dalton Street,
Byng Street,
Hill Street,
the Northern Distributor Road,
Prince Street
Lords Place
major rural regional roads such as Cargo Road, Burrendong Way, Forest Road and Huntley Road.
Details of the full program will be finalised over the coming weeks once investigations into
the most appropriate level of treatment for particular sections of each road are completed. However 35 streets have already been identified for re-sealing, 42 for rehabilitation and the
road network covered by hotmix will be extended.
Mayor John Davis said some significant gains had been made in recent times however more
work was needed.
“Council has assessed road conditions, developed asset plans, listened to concerns raised
by the community and Councillors and we are now ready to roll out what will result in a major
improvement in road conditions over the next two years,” Cr Davis said.
“By the end of the 2013/14 financial year, Council will have undertaken more than $14 million in road works across three years. As the program is rolled out we will keep the community updated on progress.”
Infrastructure Policy Committee Chairman Cr Reg Kidd said the community had high
expectations of the road network and Council was committed to improvements.
“One of the strengths of taking this over two years is we can get started with this program
now and then review it as it rolls out and amend it if or where necessary. Orange City Council manages close to $1 billion in assets on behalf of the Orange community and about 20 per cent of that is in roads. Roads are a critical and very visible part of that infrastructure,” Cr Kidd said.
“While we have used the Asset Management Plan as a base for this road program we have
also included feedback from the community collected by the Customer Service team. That
community feedback lines up with this program. We will also investigate extending this for a
further two years to cover the entire four years of this Council term.”
The new program is a continuation of the 2010/11 year expansion. Key city streets that
benefitted from that accelerated funding program included
Coronation Drive
Moulder Street
Anson Street
Byng Street
Peisley Street
Hill Street
Kite Street
Prince Street,
Elsham Avenue
Matthews Avenue
sections of the Northern Distributor Road.
The program involves:
Existing road maintenance programs (2012/13 & 2013/14) $3.35 million
Expanded road program 2012/13 & 2013/14 $5 million
