On Tuesday night Lithgow City Council met with members of the Tarana community to discuss the state of the roads in and around Tarana.
Mayor Maree Statham, Deputy Mayor Darryl Goodwin and Councillors Ring, Bryce, Coleman, Mahony and O’Connor were in attendance to hear the concerns of the Tarana Valley community.
Lithgow City Council General Manager Mr Craig Buttler and members of the Council’s infrastructure team presented to the community about the challenges faced by Lithgow City Council in managing the road network across the Lithgow LGA.
The Council heard from residents voicing their concern about the state of the roads including potholes, lack of signage, line marking, road widths and the impact that state road closures have when traffic is rerouted onto rural roads. The residents also spoke about the need for future improvements to the roads in the village and whether heavy vehicles could be restricted because of safety concerns.
Mr Butler outlined some of the strategies Lithgow Council are undertaking to increase the Council’s capacity to repair roads including ongoing advocacy to the state and federal government for faster processes of disaster recovery funding. Mr Butler also identified that the Council is awaiting delivery on a new grader, which will bring the total number of graders to three, and that “Council has also ordered a new Jet Patcher for repairing asphalt and potholes. These critical pieces of road maintenance plant have only been possible through the extra capacity provided by the Special Rates Variation”.
Mr Craig Butler expressed that the meeting was productive “We wanted to come to Tarana to listen as much as explain. It is important that the Council can have a healthy and open conversation about the complexity of managing our rural road network. This community session allowed us to get a sense of the frustrations felt by residents, while also charting a productive path forward.”
Mr Graham Fletcher, who was one of the residents who contacted Lithgow Council to raise his concerns about the state of the roads said “I am really pleased with the turn-out tonight, it felt like we had the chance to voice our opinion and not be shut down. I look forward to seeing what happens after this meeting”
Lithgow Council acknowledges the matters raised in the meeting at Tarana are also being experienced across the whole of Lithgow. The roads in and out of Tarana will continue to be maintained on a regular basis. Council is still waiting for approval from Transport for NSW to undertake permanent rehabilitation works, with Sodwalls Road and Magpie Hollow Road being one of the highest priorities. The contractor appointed for the works on Sodwalls Road will make it a priority to start the work as soon as funding approval is received from Transport for NSW.
On Thursday 19 June, inspections were undertaken of some of the additional sites identified in the meeting to determine what can be done to alleviate the issues. Any works arising out of these inspections will be prioritised.