Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall has today announced more than $3.72 million for the region’s councils to undertake urgent pothole repairs on local roads.
Monday, 28 November 2022
NORTHERN Tablelands MP Adam Marshall has today announced an immediate $3.72 million shot-in-the-arm from the State Government to help the region’s beleaguered councils, which are struggling to keep on top of the growing number of potholes and damage on local roads.
Mr Marshall said the funding, from the government’s one-off Fixing Local Roads Pothole Repair Round, would be used by councils to cover the extra cost and ease workload pressures for urgent repairs to the most damaged sections of the local road network across the region.
“With almost record rainfall being experienced across our region in the last 12-18 months – and two floods thrown in for the Moree district – our local roads have copped an absolute flogging are many are in a terrible condition,” Mr Marshall said.
“To make matters worse, the continued wet weather has hampered councils’ efforts to undertake any major repairs, instead just patching what they can until the next rain does more damage.
“This extra cash alone isn’t the panacea, but it is a welcome boost for our councils and their road crews, who trying to take advantage of the current dry period to complete as much repair work as they can.”
Under the funding round, councils were allocated funding based on the size of their local road network:
- Armidale Regional $265,448.66
- Glen Innes Severn $395,357.10
- Gwydir Shire $709,204.63
- Inverell Shire $794,261.52
- Moree Plains Shire $927,639.40
- Uralla Shire $316,306.28
- Walcha $314,554.94
Total $3,722,772.53
“Councils are responsible for maintenance on the local road network so this extra cash will help ease some of the pressure they are facing and boost the resources they can draw upon to fix the most damaged roads,” Mr Marshall said.
“It will also help reduce the number popped tyres, bent rims and other vehicle damage being sustained by motorists as they try to navigate some challenging road conditions.”