Rodney Stevens
This week motorists travelling across the Clarence Valley will notice increased roadworks as the rehabilitation of several regional roads across the Clarence Valley that were severely damaged by the 2022 floods and storms begins.
At the June 27 Clarence Valley Council CVC meeting, councillors unanimously voted to award the $13.2 million tender, covered by Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, to Stabilcorp Pty Ltd.
Sections of roads approved by Transport for NSW to be funded by the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements include Clarence Way, Eight Mile Lane, Iluka Road, Lawrence Road, Wooli Road and Yamba Road.
A CVC spokesperson said the actual scope of works will be larger, with a Council-funded program in place to repair other sections not covered by the DRFA funding.
“Works on Eight Mile Lane start this Monday July 17, before moving onto Wooli Road, and then Clarence Way,” the spokesperson said.
Eight sections of significant defects along Wooli Road will be repaired between Eight Mile Lane and the Minnie Water Road intersection, plus another section before the last left-hand bend into Wooli.
Rehabilitation of Wooli Road will begin next in August at a cost of $2 million.
Work on defects in multiple locations on the Clarence Way from Grafton via Copmanhurst, Fine Flower, Baryulgil, Malabugilmah, to Louisa Creek covers a distance of about 100km, almost to the Kyogle Shire Council Border.
The largest project in the Regional Roads Rehabilitation Tender, $5.1 million worth of work on the Clarence Way will commence in September 2023.
Four sections of defects on Eight Mile Lane between Big River Way and Wooli Road will begin in July 2023 at a cost of $1.1 million.
The length of Iluka Road will see multiple defects repaired at Woombah, near the Esk River bridge and at Iluka in December 2023 at a cost of $1.1 million.
Between North Grafton and Lawrence, crews will repair multiple defects on the Lawrence Road from December 2023 at a cost of $1.3 million.
The longest continuous sections of defects will be repaired on Yamba Road, beginning at the Oyster Channel Bridge and continuing across Shallow Channel and both Micalo and Romiaka Islands to Romiaka Channel, plus another stretch from School Road around the left bend past Palmers Island Public School.
A CVC spokesperson said the $2.6 million of work on Yamba Road begins in 2024.
“Yamba Road is programmed for rehabilitation in early 2024 in order to incorporate the repairs into the future betterment of the road, which is currently in the design phase,” the spokesperson said.
“The improvements being assessed include adjustment of the road alignment, improvements in flood resilience, and an increase in overall roadway width to improve safety.”