The Lithgow region has been subject to persistent and significant rainfall. This has resulted in damage to road, drainage and embankment infrastructure.
In the past six months, the Lithgow area has been subject to roughly 950mm of rainfall. This rain has fallen over 129 days in a 180-day period. Council staff continue to brave the conditions day and night to inspect all low-lying assets that may be affected by floodwaters and are providing residents with the most up to date information for road closures throughout the area.
As a result of these inspections, Council has urgently prioritised road repairs across the 4,000 square kilometres of our LGA. All machines are operational, every available local contractor is engaged, and staff are prioritising and attending to those hazards which present the highest risk.
The first stage of Lithgow's infrastructure recovery will commence this week with 25 roads prioritised for renewal. This will not involve pothole patching. Instead, entire seals will be removed, pavements reconstructed, drainage reestablished, and seals replaced with hotmix asphalt.
Browns Gap Road will be the first asset addressed first with work to commence tomorrow, 11 May 2022 and progress for up to 1 week.
As this program progresses, Council will communicate subsequent closures as they are required. Alongside work on the Browns Gap, work continues the on other assets such as Wicketty War Road, Marsden Swamp Road, Cullenbenbong Road, Sodwalls Road and many others.
"We acknowledge that this recovery process is going to be a long-term project," said Lithgow City Council's Mayor, Councillor Maree Statham. "Our estimates of damage are already approaching $10 million. Fortunately, Council has successfully attracted an additional engineer highly skilled in asset rehabilitation after natural disasters, funded by the Federal Government through the Natural Disaster Recovery Arrangements. I say with certainty that, Council's staff have the interests of the community in the forefront of their mind and are really working hard to improve the resilience of our assets."
"Lithgow City Council will continue its work to keep the community informed of progress and seize every opportunity to work alongside its State and Federal Government counterparts to address the needs of our local infrastructure."
