The Council has drawn down almost half a million dollars this quarter from the Federal Government’s ‘Roads to Recovery’ fund to manage road repair and maintenance in the seat of Dobell.
Part of the bipartisan ‘Roads to Recovery program’, the $450,000 payment has been extracted from a $13.8M five-year lump sum to support maintenance of the Council’s road infrastructure assets.
Emma McBride Federal MP for Dobell
Council is responsible for determining and nominating priority projects and can draw down on its allocation on a quarterly basis.
Dobell MP Emma McBride said she was pleased to see the Council maximising its quarterly allocation, but noted there remains a severe backlog of road works on the north end of the Coast.
“Locals are facing daily bottlenecks, potholes, wear and tear to their cars and long commutes, and we need to fix this.
“Unfortunately, the Government still hasn’t funded some of the most critical road projects in our region,”
she said.
The quality of the roads across the north of the coast is a source of constant complaint.
The widening of the Pacific Highway through Wyong has been an issue for decades, with residents continually demanding an upgrade.
The road’s limitation has also been addressed in the Central Coast Draft Regional Plan 2041, published this month, which highlights the need for increased capacity on the Pacific Highway.
More than 1,000 locals have signed a petition to speed up the process to improve it.
In the NRMA’s most recent “Rate Your Road” research, the Central Coast voted for an average safety score of 43/100 and average condition score of 47/100.
The survey asked respondents for their residential postcode, the road they wanted to rate, the condition, congestion, safety and public transport on the basis of very poor, poor, average, good or excellent.
Social media is flooded each day with residents at the northern end of the Coast commenting on the state
of the roads.
“There is a sink hole out front of someone’s driveway on Chittaway Rd that they (the Council) have been patching for 12 months,” said Berkley Vale resident Dylan Watson.
“Don’t expect them to fix it properly,” he said.
“I drove past the crater on Bundilla Parade this morning and saw three Council workers putting another band aid on it. I wonder how long this one will last,” said Berkley Vale’s Paul Davis.
Council has specifically earmarked several roads for upgrades next year.
They include Del Monte Place Upgrade, Copacabana; Ridgway Road Upgrade, Avoca Beach; Everglades Catchment, Umina Beach Drainage Upgrade; Springwood Street Upgrade, Blackwall; Rawson Road Upgrade, Woy Woy; Steyne Road Upgrade, Saratoga; Lushington Road Upgrade, East Gosford; Shelly Beach Road Upgrade, Empire Bay.
None of these upgrades apply to roads in the north of the coast.
Nicola Riches