GOLDEN Plains Shire\u2019s gravel road grading program was suspended late last year following rains that impacted roads throughout the region.<\/p>\n
The schedule, which was established in 2019 and allows each unsealed road on the municipality\u2019s register to be graded once a year, was held up for about two months between October until recently.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said the impact from the rains was severe enough to divert their resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany roads, bridges and culverts were damaged, and council received over 900 requests for repairs due to flood damage,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoad grading resources including graders, trucks, rollers and council staff were diverted to priority repairs of flood damaged roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe grading program recommenced in late December with works continuing throughout 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n
With gravel road grading annually scheduled for between April to October, Cr Les Rowe said the graders would \u201cneed to go hammer and tong\u201d to catch up to the rain-impacted network.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll be able to catch up to how it was before all the rain and flooding events. So much damage has been done to a lot of these roads,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the drainage has been identified as a big part of the issue. The shoulders of the road, for example, haven\u2019t been graded off into the drain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve cut short and only graded to the edge of the gravel, and that basically causes a little mini-river down the side of the road which is where all the washouts have been.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the edge of the gravel road had been graded back into the table drain those issues wouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 700 kilometres is listed in the municipality\u2019s unsealed road registry, and with four graders each assigned to one quadrant of the region, Cr Rowe said the pressure might be on them to catch up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to see the graders working longer hours to really utilise the moisture in the road because we only get to grade during the colder months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s only four in the system and I don\u2019t see any other way they\u2019re going to get back on track.<\/p>\n
Despite the charter\u2019s schedule of one grade per year, Cr Rowe said some gravel roads would definitely be a higher priority than others.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the busier roads here might actually get graded three or four times a year. I know Mcphillips Road in Bannockburn, for example, is always a major concern and gets heap of traffic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how it\u2019s prioritised but if you\u2019re on a road with plenty of traffic, you\u2019ll get more things done.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re one household on a country road, you\u2019d virtually get nothing because it\u2019s the one household and they go where the demand is.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only logical for those heavier-used gravel roads to get more maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GOLDEN Plains Shire\u2019s gravel road grading program was suspended late last year following rains that impacted roads throughout the region. The schedule, which was established in 2019 and allows each unsealed road on the municipality\u2019s register to be graded once a year, was held up for about two months between October until recently. A spokesperson […]<\/p>\n