Two consecutive summers of extreme rainfall have left many sections of the Sunshine Coast road network in need of repair. Sunshine Coast Council is committed to delivering a safe road network and is currently undertaking remedial works across the region via its 2012/2013 Road Reseal and Rehabilitation Program.
Service Delivery Portfolio Councillor Ted Hungerford said more than $20million would be spent on resealing and rehabilitating the 3500km local road network during the current financial year, while a further $27million would be spent repairing pot holes, road failures, linemarking renewals and grading the region’s gravel road network.
“Sunshine Coast Council has a sealed road network valued in excess of $1.5billion and is one of the longest local networks in Australia,” he said.
“Like the majority of councils in South East Queensland, Sunshine Coast Council uses a specific pavement management system to help us determine which roads require attention as part of our annual Rehabilitation and Reseal Program.
“This is supplemented by the local knowledge of our front line road maintenance teams.”
Cr Hungerford said the recent wet summers that followed a decade of drought, had led to a significant amount of pavement failures and pot holes across the Sunshine Coast Council road network.
“A condition survey of the Sunshine Coast road network has indicated that there is currently a $37million backlog of rehabilitation works due to the beating they received from severe weather periods during the past two wet seasons,” he said.
“Our current budget will not enable us to fully fix all the areas that require repairs, so this will be an ongoing process that council will need to carry out over a number of years. Our focus at the moment is to make sure no more roads fall into the stage where rehabilitation is the only option, so we are allocating more funds to reseals.
“In the meantime we will act to keep the roads to a safe standard through our proactive maintenance activities.”
Treatment summary of the 2012/2013 Road Reseal and Rehabilitation Program:
We encourage members of the public to let council know if they have safety concerns with their local roads, or have noticed surface failures or potholes, by contacting Council’s Customer Services centre on (07)5475 7272