Golden Plains Shire Council will deliver a new scheduling system for grading roads, following Council’s adoption of the Unsealed Roads Charter at its Ordinary Meeting on Tuesday 23 July.
The Charter features a commitment by Council to grading the Shire’s entire 700km unsealed road network and maintaining every unsealed road to an agreed standard. Council’s annual maintenance schedule of grading will be mapped from April to October, and available to all residents on a new online calendar.
The new calendar program will minimise the time that graders spend travelling to jobs and maximise the time they are out working in the prime grading weather. In the warmer months, when it’s too dry for maintenance works to be cost-effective and efficient, the grading crews will keep busy with drainage, construction and sealed road shoulder works.
In addition to the new calendar, the Charter has established a clear commitment to maintaining specific levels of intervention. Council will track the busy roads that need more attention, building up an informed system and delivering an improved service within Council’s Budget, while moving toward greater investment in the future.
Council has a new roads inspector who will monitor the condition of the roads, and when residents contact Council with concerns about their road, will respond and assess the road within five business days. If upon inspection, the corrugation levels for the road are greater than 65mm in depth across 30% of 1km of the road, or if there are potholes at a depth greater that 100mm and with a diameter of greater than 400mm, the road will be put on the intervention list and Council’s Works team will complete the repairs on the road within 30 business days. At inspection, if the road rates better than the committed level of intervention, it keeps its place on the calendar and the grading team will return to work on the road as scheduled.
Mayor Cr Owen Sharkey says that the new transparent grading calendar will deliver a more efficient and fairer roads commitment across the Shire.
“With more people travelling our Shire’s 700kms of unsealed roads, the current grading system no longer works and we have adopted a new way of doing business that delivers better results for our roads budget.
“The new grading program is about making a commitment to residents we can keep, so it’s fairer for everyone. We’ve done a lot of research to establish the great new program and we’ll be refining it as we go to make sure it works for all our residents travelling our unsealed roads in Golden Plains.”
In its 2019/20 Budget, Council increased its total investment in road improvements and maintenance including $1.15 million for resealing local roads, up from $850,000 in the 2018/19 Budget; $1.1 million for improvements to local roads, up from $280,000 in 2018/19; and $600,000 for gravel resheeting of local roads, up from $300,000 in 2018/19.
The new online grading calendar will be published on Council’s website in early August. For more information about the Unsealed Roads Charter, read the August issue of the Gazette or call Customer Service at 5220 7111.