Residents and visitors to The Macleay Valley are no strangers to potholes, especially after heavy rainfall like we saw for most of Autumn.
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Travellers of Spooners Avenue, on the back roads of Frederickton, are having a particularly bumpy ride.
Local John Mundy, who has lived by Spooners Avenue for more than 30 years, is concerned by the state of the road and says drivers have to "dodge side to side".
Motorists taking a turn off Collambatti Road onto Spooners Avenue have taken to off-road driving to avoid the potholes, which continue along the 10 kilometre stretch of road.
Pointing out the tyre tracks on either side of the road, John explains that people have to drive around the potholes before reaching the narrow bridge over the railway tracks where the road damage is at its worst.
That damage to the road is hard to see in the shadows of the trees during a sunny day, and is even harder to spot when full of water after rain.
"All you can see are shadows, but there are probably ten potholes hiding there", said a Smithtown local, who had stopped in his car alongside Spooners Avenue.
He said he understood that potholes occur, and that "it must be hard on council to keep up", but he agrees the road is dangerous and would like to see it fixed.
"It's dangerous as far as I'm concerned. For people who don't know the roads, it's a real concern," said John, who is also worried about damage to cars.
Considering the roads in the area have a speed limit of 80km and 100km per hour, John believes it wouldn't take much for someone to slide off road.
The speed limit is also an issue in parts where drivers are forced to come to a near stop to crawl over the potholes, or attempt to swerve them all together.
"Once Kempsey is cut off, people from North and from Freddo, shop in West Kempsey. This road becomes a Highway," John said.
"Usually after a bit of rain, the council will come out and fill the holes up. But it's been 4-5 weeks now"
The Macleay Argus asked Dylan Reeves, Manager of Infrastructure Delivery, to comment on the plans to repair Spooners Avenue and the challenges council faces.
"Council crews will be carrying out maintenance grading on the unsealed section of Spooners Avenue and Collombatti Road areas in approximately one week's time," he said.
"An additional maintenance crew is helping with repairs, in addition to the two permanent crews working on unsealed roads. Some teams are also working Saturdays to overcome the backlog. All maintenance work is still subject to weather and is prioritised based on the following:
- traffic volume
- regional or local significance
- speed limit
- bus routes
- proximity to schools and places of public interest
- pedestrian activity.
"Each year, council repairs thousands of potholes across the shire's 1250 kilometre road network - that's almost as far as driving from Kempsey to Melbourne.
"The challenge we face is that rain falls on much of the shire at the same time, and with the combined impact of the ongoing wet weather and two significant flood events last year and this year there are road repair needs across the shire.
"Council isn't equipped to send a team out to all of our 1250 kilometres of roads all at once. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to repair potholes as soon as they are reported."
The cost of sealing a road from scratch is in the realm of $1 million per kilometre of road. At its April 2021 meeting, council determined to pursue grant funding to expedite works and upgrade the gravel section of Spooners Avenue.
This work is considered a priority but requires government funding to proceed.
You can read more about council's approach to road repairs on its website.
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