A TOTAL of $543 million has been committed to NSW government’s remedial infrastructure program, Fixing Country Roads, which is aimed at the ailing state of some of our regional thoroughfares.
Work under the government’s program covers most of the state (regional roads comprise 90 per cent of the State’s road network) and includes realignments, bridge replacements and pavement upgrades.
Fixing Country Roads is aimed at 92 eligible regional councils, with funding targeted to remove freight pinch points on local road networks.
Round one included 77 projects. It kicked off in February 2016 and most works are completed or nearing completion.
The 64 projects in round two, which began in June, are expected to be completed by the end of 2017. Both rounds combined were awarded $93 million. Now, Fixing Country Roads is gearing up for a third round of works, with a bigger funding allocation to target larger significant and urgent projects.
Locations from round one include Byrnes Road Realignment in Junee, Abington Creek Bridge on Thunderbolts Way, near Uralla, Gobarralong Bridge in Cootamundra and Burren Junction to Pilliga road, where six kilometres of road was sealed, to improve access for grain, livestock and cotton freight trucks, as well as better access to major sale yards located on the Newell Highway.
Transport costs in NSW can represent as much as 25 pc of the total cost of goods sold. The Fixing Country Roads was aimed at increasing economic competitiveness for regional industry, Road and Freight Minister Duncan Gay said.
“Programs like this are all about making sure the likes of our farmers can get their produce from paddock to port as quickly and as efficiently as possible.”
Many roads under local councils’ jurisdiction were not built to accommodate modern, heavy haul trucks, which drives up the cost of freight. Unnecessary diverted freight travel is forecast to cost NSW businesses up to $1 billion over the next 20 years.