Work on an innovative $1.4 million major roads upgrade will get underway in Orange on Monday.
The 950 metre-long section of work on Lone Pine Avenue and Wakeford Street is expected to take around five weeks to complete, weather dependent.
The cost of the project is being shared by the NSW Government’s Fixing Local Roads Program ($1.05 million) and Orange City Council ($350K).
Orange Mayor Reg Kidd said the technique used in the rehabilitation of the road was a first for Orange.
“This particular section of road pavement is challenging to rebuild,” Mayor Kidd said.
“The road has been repaired in the past and the old original road materials are just not adequate to cater for the increased traffic using the road,” he said.
“The upgrade work will be done using a combination of foundation improvements, recycling and strengthening of the existing road materials and surfacing with new asphalt.
“The recycling and strengthening process being used is foamed bitumen stabilisation. Foamed bitumen stabilisation is a road construction technique where hot bitumen is used to bind the existing gravels. This is an innovative, cost-effective process which enables Council to recycle everything in the existing road, rather than ripping it up, taking it away and replacing it with expensive new materials.
“The site conditions for this project mean that this process is particularly suitable and cost effective when compared to other methods and projects.”
Orange City Council’s Infrastructure Policy Committee Chair, Jeff Whitton said contractors would make sure the road was accessible for funeral services and cemetery visitors, school drop off and pick up times so buses had access to the Wakeford Street entrance of Canobolas Rural Technology High School.
“This is a large scale upgrade of the road from the Icely Road roundabout to the Mitchell Highway so there will be a level of inconvenience for everyone who lives on, and uses that street,” Cr Whitton said.
“Work hours will be between 7am and 5pm, with a couple of night shifts to complete work on the southern end of the street, near the Mitchell Highway.
“No night work is planned close to residences.
“We’re asking people not to park on the street during work hours, but cars may be left out the front of residences overnight.
“The road will be open most of the time, subject to traffic control. There will be intermittent periods where sections may need to be closed but residents will be able to come and go from their properties, but at times may need to wait a few minutes while machinery moves past.
“I’d like to thank everyone in advance for their patience during this work and encourage anyone who has concerns to contact Council and staff will help as best they can.”
