Building Better Roads

Work is underway on Orange’s newest roundabout at the corner of Woodward and Moulder Streets, in a bid to improve traffic flow and the safety of the intersection.

The new roundabout is being built by Orange City Council with $635,000 funding from the Australian Government’s Black Spot program. The intersection was chosen for the project because of its accident record.

During the project there will always be two lanes of traffic flowing in Woodward Street. During the first stage, traffic has been moved to the eastern side of the road while work begins on the western side.

The western access to Moulder Street will stay closed for the first stage of the project, while the eastern access to Moulder Street will be closed for one month during the second half of the roundabout construction.

Marked detours are in place and drivers are asked to choose other routes and avoid the area if they can.

Weather permitting, the project is expected to be completed by the end of June.

GOING ROUND: All things being equal and weather permitting, the new roundabout at the corner of Woodward and Moulder Streets will be finished in about 10 weeks.

Orange City Council is getting on with the job of upgrading Orange's roads as the William Street project nears completion and work on the Bypass ramps up.

Work in William Street is in its final stages as the last layer of hot mix asphalt is laid, bringing the total to 220 mm between March Street and Dalton Street.

The parking lanes will be upgraded with bitumen before further heavy hot mix patching is done towards the Byng Street roundabout.

Much of the work was completed at night to lessen the impact on businesses and customers.

NIGHT MOVES : Work began March 13 on the William St upgrade

WILLIAM ST PROJECT : Orange City Council’s Assistant Works manager Mark Frecklington, pictured with Tyrepower store manager Tim Allen, was door-knocking businesses in William St today keeping them in touch with the timetable for the upgrade project , which is due to begin on Monday next week.

There's a still a long way to go, but residents are already enjoying the benefits of progress in locations such as :

• Byng St ~ hot mix asphalt from Peisley St, west towards Woodward St, including a formerly bad section near the Wontama construction site.
• Hill St ~ the potholes at the northern end of Hill St near the bypass are gone, after 500 mm of the road base was removed and replaced
• Paling St ~ a badly potholed residential street in East Orange now has a new bitumen/gravel surface
• Endsleigh Ave, March St, etc

Construction of the new railway bridge at Forest Road is expected to take 12 months but planners of the project will be working hard to keep the existing bridge open for as long as possible during that time, according to Orange Mayor John Davis OAM.

The new bridge on Peisley Street, at East Fork, will be wider to make it simpler for heavy transport, such as B-Doubles, to use the bridge.

"The $2.5 million project to upgrade the railway bridge in Forest Road is going to be a huge investment in the infrastructure of Orange," Cr Davis said.

"It’s being funded 50/50 between Orange City Council , the NSW Government’s Restart Program and the Federal Government’s Bridges Renewal program.

"The project is in the final design stages before it goes out to tender in the coming months."

Part of the process of choosing the right tenderer for the job, will involve looking at each company's proposals to minimise impact on local traffic flow during the project, Cr Davis said.

Construction work is expected to begin in this financial year and take about 12 months to complete.

"We’ll be asking for the patience of Orange residents when work gets underway but we’ll be doing all we can to minimise the impact of the project," he said.

Part of the planning that happens to minimise the impact takes the shape of a thorough ‘Review of Environmental Factors’ (REF) assessment.

This means a team of consultants looks at not only the bridge itself, but the potential problems that could happen during the construction phase.

"They’ll be looking at factors including detours around the bridge site, and how best to manage traffic flow when the roads and parts of the roads need to be closed," Cr Davis said.

"We want to listen to community views on these matter so the whole REF will be up for comment later this month and residents and businesses in the area will have the opportunity to have their say."

Once plans are in place there will be consultation with those directly affected by the project such as businesses adjacent to the construction as well as Cadia and Orange Health Service.

"Letters will go out to all adjacent property owners. There will be signs, message boards, meetings with Orange Heath Service, Cadia, Orange buses as well as emergency services. We'll be asking the media for assistance and using social media to communicate with residents about any road closures," Cr Davis said.

BRIDGE: A new bridge will be built alongside the current bridge making it easier for heavy vehicles to use.

The Northern Distributor Road was never built to pass on the NSW Government says Orange Mayor John Davis, amid reports there were disputes over the road's ownership.

Reports in local media followed calls, from Orange's new local member Phil Donato, for public dissatisfaction over funding for the road to be resolved.

Cr Davis said he understood the community's frustration with the NDR and how it has performed, but moved to assure residents Orange City Council would upgrade the road in the coming months.

He said there were plans being drawn up to upgrade the road and those plans were being reviewed by an industry specialist before any work would be undertaken.

"The community knows that it has not performed as well as it should and we are working to fix that," he said.

"It was never built to pass it on to the NSW Government. It was built to take heavy trucks and other traffic out of the CBD and to provide growth opportunities in North Orange. It’s been spectacularly successful on both those counts.

"That said it’s taking traffic numbers beyond the pre-construction estimates."

Despite being built to the standard of a high traffic local road the NDR has become in part a de facto Mitchell Highway.

The Mitchell Highway takes about 20,000 vehicles a day in parts. The bypass reaches 10,000 a day on some sections and 30 per cent of those vehicles are trucks.

"We sometimes get asked why wasn’t it built to a Mitchell Highway standard. On the surface it seems a fair question but it misses some critical points," Cr Davis said.

Some context shows the difference in funding allocations for a highway compared to what's available for a council owned local road.

The bypass from Escort Way to the Mitchell Highway at Chinaman’s Bend is 12.3 kilometres with four roundabouts, several waterway crossings and a rail bridge. The cost of the project was approximately $30 million, or about $2.4 million a kilometre.

The NSW Government is currently undertaking a realignment of the highway at Guanna Hill 21 kilometres north of Orange. The project costs for the 7.2 kilometre works are $56 million.

This equates to $7.8 million a kilometre.

Cr Davis said if that level of funding was available for the bypass the project costs would be close to $100 million.

"If we had put forward a $100 million project and asked for funding we would still be waiting for it to start," Cr Davis said.

"In recent discussions with Roads and Maritime Services there’s been recognition that the bypass is doing the work of more than a local road.

"We will get it as good as we can but in the future if we can work with the NSW Government to make sure the road works well for regional traffic we’d be happy to do that. The council is looking forward to working constructively with our new local member."

UPGRADES: Upgrades to the Northern Distributor Roads are being reviewed by an independent specialist.

Orange City Council is working its way through $15 million of road upgrades and has completed more than 20 sections of road since October.

Some of these roads were resealed with two-coats of a bitumen-gravel seal and it’s probable, and normal, that during consistently hot temperatures, (like the heat-wave conditions Orange is experiencing this week) the surface will look like it is 'melting' in small patches.

EXPLAINING ROAD-BUILDING :

How does this happen?

When a new bitumen-gravel surface is added to a road, liquid bitumen is sprayed onto the road, followed by a layer of fine gravel. That process is then repeated with the spraying of more liquid bitumen then another layer of gravel.

This surface, especially the bitumen will continue to 'cure' for a number of months. During this time, if there are prolonged periods of very high temperatures, a process known as 'bleeding' can occur. This is where the bitumen gets hot enough for the gravel to sink or be pushed to bottom of the layers by passing traffic.

This leaves only the softer bitumen at the top of the road surface. This softer surface is more vulnerable to be damaged by heavy trucks or sharply turning tyres.

These patches of soft 'tar' could be damaged by large vehicles, tow bars, sharp turns or high volumes of traffic so it’s important the council road crews can get to these sections and cool them down or take action before any damage is done.

Council staff will make routine follow-up checks to look at the condition of new road surfaces. Where needed the council's jet-patcher crew will add spray fine gravel into the patches where 'bleeding' is occuring.

A visit by a water tank or a scattering of fine gravel applied quickly can prevent damage to the seal, so the council's road crews are also asking the community to be the council’s eyes and ears.

If you live near a newly re-surfaced section of road, keep an eye out for patches of bitumen that appear much darker than the surrounding road, where the patches appear to be wet and generally look like they’re melting.

Please give the customer service team a call on 63938000 so we can get a maintenance team to the scene as soon as practical.

MELTING: Here's an example of what a new road might look like when hot bitumen appears to melt.

Orange City Council has welcomed the NSW Government announcement of a $2.1 million funding contribution towards the upgrade of Forest Rd outside the new Orange hospital.

The project will see the upgrade of 1400 metres of Forest Rd from the Southern Feeder Rd intersection, alongside Sir Jack Brabham Park to the entrance of the new hospital.

As well as an upgrade of the road, the $3.1 million project is expected to include street lighting and the construction of bays of parking alongside Jack Brabham sports fields. A further $1 million will be added to the project from a combination of council funds and developer contributions.

FUNDING: Cr Glenn Taylor, Mayor John Davis and Member for Orange Phil Donato, welcome NSW Government funding to upgrade Forest Rd.

The details of the upgrade will now be prepared for the multi-million dollar project to go out to tender. While initial work on drainage could begin earlier, it’s expected road work would not begin before October-November road building season.

The project will include :

• 1400 metres of two lane road, sealed with hot mix asphalt
• Kerb and gutter on both sides of the road (2,833 metres)
• 884 metres of storm water pipes
• 8 street lights
• Traffic lights at entrance to hospital. Intersection designed with capability for entrance into new private hospital
• A double-sided parking bay alongside the sporting fields with 120 marked parking spaces

Orange Mayor John Davis said the project was a great example of tiers of government working together.

“Orange City Council is already in the midst of a $15 million upgrade of local roads, and while most of that money will come from ratepayers, it’s great that the NSW government is recognizing that roads around pieces of key facilities like the health service is the sort of infrastructure they can be supporting,” Cr John Davis said.

Orange City Council Infrastructure Committee chair, Cr Glenn Taylor, said the new road will be good for the people of Orange.

“Since the hospital was built, this road has taken much more than its fair share of regional traffic,” Cr Glenn Taylor said. “The people of Orange have been very patient with the poor condition of this key road, and they’ll be very pleased that the funding has now emerged.”

Parliamentary Secretary for Western NSW, Sarah Mitchell, welcomed the funding, saying the upgrade would deliver significant benefits for the local community.

“This dilapidated road provides a direct route to the Cadia Valley Mine and is also the access point for the Orange Health Service” Mrs Mitchell said.

“With this funding, no longer will ambulances carrying patients to the emergency department have to worry about the poor condition of their access road”.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional Development John Barilaro said the Government had determined the funding following recommendations from Infrastructure NSW and an independent panel’s review of 67 initial expressions of interest.