Blue Mountains City Council has received in principle approval from Transport for NSW (TfNSW) for disaster recovery grant funding up to $33M for emergency roadworks.
All available resources are being applied by the Council to fixing the roads as well as the 66 landslides that have occurred in the City, as soon as possible. Additional external contractor crews are also being engaged to support this important recovery work. However, there is an extremely high demand for road contractors and materials across all disaster affected local government areas.
Almost one-third of the road network was damaged during natural disasters in March and July this year. The worst hit areas have been Wentworth Falls, Katoomba, Leura and the Megalong Valley, but roads have been seriously damaged in all 27 towns and villages throughout the Blue Mountains.
"This funding approval in principle means that road repairs can be further escalated over the spring and summer seasons this year," Mayor, Cr. Greenhill said.
"Council currently has two crews that use jet patching machines, plus a heavy patch crew. Two externally engaged contractor crews have also been completing heavy patching work in recent months, and we have brought on another two external crews who are completing emergency works.
"We intend to get even more additional external contractors to focus on resurfacing roads, rather than just temporary patching. Council just needs the rain to hold off, so we can really start to gain momentum now that the weather is warming up. This is because road repairs require dry weather conditions and a minimum temperature of nine degrees for permanent repairs to take effect.
"Given the extent of the damage it is still going to take time to get this work done. We thank residents for their patience and understanding in these challenging times."
For more information on Council's Road Recovery Plan go to: bmcc.nsw.gov.au/our-road-recovery-plan.
Stay up to date on where emergency roadworks have been completed, on what work is scheduled, at: bmcc.nsw.gov.au/roadworks.
To report a pot hole on a local road go to: bmcc.nsw.gov.au/potholes/report-a-pothole
