Work begins on re-surfacing the bypass

The first stage of Orange City Council’s recently-announced ‘Building Better Roads’ action-plan to re-surface the entire length of the city’s northern bypass has begun.

Work on the 600 metre section of the road between Leeds Parade and Astill Drive will generally involve removing 150mm of the existing granular pavement and replacing it with hotmix asphalt. The new asphalt will be 220mm thick overall, meaning the final level of the road will be 70mm higher than it currently is.

Mayor John Davis said he was delighted to see the work getting under way.

“There’s been a very positive reaction from Orange residents since the extra road funding was announced recently,” Cr John Davis said. “People are understandably less than happy with the damage in the surface of the bypass, but I believe they’re now pleased they can look forward to this problem being fixed.”

Orange City Council Infrastructure Policy Committee chair Cr Glenn Taylor is urging local drivers to be patient while the long-awaited road-works begin.

“In the coming weeks and months there’s going to be a lot of road works happening around Orange. In this financial year the roads budget is up to $28 million. Aside from the Bypass work there are close to 40 other substantial road projects scheduled for this year ranging from short sections of road through to several blocks,” Cr Taylor said.

“While drivers are sitting at some road-works, I hope they’ll be thinking how many local roads are going to be improved because of this extra spending. But road crews will be doing all they can to minimise the delays for drivers.”

During the road works on the bypass, at least one lane of the road will always be open, and traffic control staff will let passing traffic through as soon as possible. Both lanes of the road will be open for traffic at night.

“Crews will work on one side of the road at a time, and by the end of each day’s shift that section of road will re-open for traffic. Weather permitting, this section of the bypass is expected to take 2 weeks to complete.

Variable message signs are already in place on the bypass advising motorists of the project. Extra signs will also be placed on the Mitchell highway.