Building Better Roads

Has Orange really got more pot holes than other regional cities?

Do locals have a perception that there are many streets in town with a good surface?

Orange Mayor John Davis wants the community to have a positive attitude to the work of Orange City Council.

He's hosted a video tour, covering a range of Orange's streets, to show what the council is doing to tackle streets with pot holes and to outline some of the council's plans to spend $15 million on roads inn the coming year.

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The Council road crews have begun jet-patching potholes while the warmer drier weather lasts.

Orange City Council's Manager of Corporate and Community Relations Nick Redmond said, for the last two months Orange City Council has had at least two crews working full-time on pothole repairs.

He said often extra crews have been formed with staff from other Council work areas such as construction, concrete and drainage and parks and gardens, to help deal with the backlog.

"Repairing potholes is a temporary solution aimed at maintaining a serviceable surface before more permanent works can occur, generally in warmer weather," Mr Redmond said.

"Orange’s record rainfall in both June and July has left its mark on local roads by creating more potholes than usual. This problem is shared by communities across the Central Tablelands.

"The emergence of potholes is an inevitable result of heavy rain where the seal on a busy road has been damaged."

This week the rain has eased and temperatures have begun to rise, one of the council crews has begun using jet-patcher equipment, Mr Redmond said.

"While this equipment can only be used in dry weather, this technique delivers a better result. A mixture of bitumen and gravel is sprayed into the pot hole and is then rolled in," he said.

"The location of where potholes have been repaired is captured by the council’s assets management system which helps to prioritise streets for major road maintenance work during warmer months."

Orange City Council staff are working seven days to deal with road damage as a result of the wettest June on record.

Deputy Mayor Chris Gryllis said there was a lot of work to do but Council staff were on the job.

“When you get more than 260mm of rain in a month there will be some damage. The average for June is 73mm so add almost 200mm to that. It’s a challenge but we are up for it. Patching is a priority. Over the last seven days the crews have shoveled 94 tonnes of cold-mix,” Cr Gryllis said.

“We are all over the city at the moment. But I encourage anyone who has an issue to go to the council website at www.orange.nsw.gov.au and go to the Report It button on the homepage. Residents can also phone 1300 650 511. The Councillors are very aware of the community views on getting on with the work and that is what we are doing.”

Council undertakes the patching to make sure the road is safe to travel on. With patching in this type of weather it is anticipated that not all those patches will hold and may need to be revisited.

It is acknowledged that some of the patching is a stop gap until the conditions improve or a more long lasting road treatment is undertaken.

Pothole patching: Crews were patching Forest Road last week and continued to work through the weekend.

Orange mayor John Davis has welcomed the NSW Government announcement of funding to build a new bridge over the railway line in Forest Road.

“The NSW Government announcement of $1.25 million matches the earlier announcement of funding from the Australian government.”

This month has been Orange’s wettest June on record and while the rain is welcome, it is wreaking havoc with the roads.

According to Weatherzone meteorologist, Jacob Cronje, Orange has experienced 160.2 mms of rain this month, 87 mms above the average and the weather does not appear to be drying up in the foreseeable future.

When the surface of a road is judged to be be too damaged to be continue to be patched, the new options come under the heading of renewal

The two renewal options are :

• Road re-sealing
• Road Renewal

Road Re-Sealing

Road re-sealing (or surface renewal) happens when the road pavement (foundation) is in good condition, but the surface has deteriorated to a point where it requires replacement.

It generally involves spraying hot bitumen over the existing surface, quickly tipping a layer of stone on top and rolling the stone into the bitumen.

The placement of a new asphalt layer on the road segment can also be used.

Road Renewal (Pavement Renewal)

‘Road Renewal’ happens when the road has reached the end of its life.

The most common road renewal technique that Orange City Council uses is an extension of heavy patching called Pavement Rehabilitation.

Pavement rehabilitation or 'Stabilising' uses the same process of heavy patching, except that on the whole of the road :

• the remaining surface is removed and
• the pavement gravel is pulverised by a road reclaimer machine.
• a binder is added for strength, and the pavement is watered and re-compacted
• a surface seal of either asphalt or sprayed seal is applied.

When to maintain, and when to renew a road?

For effective management, engineers divide sections of Orange's road network into 'segments'. A road segment is a section of road that runs from one intersection to another.

Every segment in Orange's 358 kms of sealed roads is inspected and assessed every 2 years. Orange City Council also welcomes information from residents who have noticed pot holes or damaged roads.

Inspections look at :

• the amount of patching that happened already,
• the amount of cracking, roughness and
• the shape of the road.

The segments are rated on a scale of worst to best, using a 1(worst) to 5 (best) scale.

A pavement and surface is generally renewed when the condition level reaches approximately 3.5.

Orange City Council's aim is to maintain our roads with 'repairs' throughout their life until their condition falls below condition 3 when they are scheduled for 'renewal'.

How long do roads in Orange last?

Records of inspections and repairs collected since 1992, give Orange City Council staff the facts on how long local roads are lasting.

It is currently estimated that the average life span of a road pavement (the road's underlying foundations) is approximately 39 years.

It then depends what sort of surface or seal is added to the top surface of the road.

There are two kinds of surface:

• Sprayed seal (Bitumen)

Sprayed seal (Bitumen) surfacing is a relatively quick process enabling large areas of pavement to be renewed in a short period of time. This is the most common surface applied to most suburban streets in Orange.

• Hot-mix asphalt

Hot-mix asphalt overlays use up a considerable amount of more material and require more equipment and time to lay than sprayed seals, but offer a superior level of service with a much smoother ride.

Spray seal bitumen

The average life span of a sprayed (bitumen) seal surface is 13 years

This means, on average, once a road pavement is built, it should last long enough for and two subsequent re-seals with a sprayed surface before it is ready for renewal:

Over the life of the road :

• the first bitumen gravel seal should last between 0 to 13 Years
• the first re-seal should last between 13-26 years
• the last re-seal should between 26-39 years

Hotmix Asphalt

The average life span of an asphalt hot-mix surface is 26 years.

If a pavement is initially overlaid with asphalt, it will only have to be re-sealed once before the pavement has to be re-built.

Over the life of the road :

the new hot mix seal should last between 0-26 years
the next re-seal should last between 26 - 39 years

Which surface for which road :

Hot-mix asphalt or Sprayed bitumen?

Orange City Council has a limited budget to spend on roads.

It makes sense to spend the most money on the roads which have the most traffic.

Hot-mix Asphalt costs five times as much initially, but is only around two and a half times as expensive as a bitumen reseal, when its much longer life is factored in.

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Surface Cost Life Cost / Year

Bitumen Gravel Reseal 4.50/sq metre 2-13 years $0.35 / sq metre / year

40mm layer of hot-mix Asphalt $24/sq metre 2-26 years $0.92/sq. metre / year

Hot-mix provides a much higher level of service due to the superior ride quality, reduced traffic noise and less ongoing maintenance.

Hot-mix surfaces have generally been used on high traffic roads in Orange, in particular around the main shopping area as well key arterial roads leading out from the centre of Orange.

This interactive map lets you search the roads in Orange which have been upgraded in recent years, and which roads are on the list for roadworks.

The BLUE lines are streets where road-works have already been completed.

The ORANGE lines are streets where work is continuing or work is proposed to happen soon.

You can click on each coloured street to see the location of the road-works.

To see more details, click on the box at the map's top right hand corner to view a 'Full Screen' sized version of the map.

Work has begun on the next stage of Orange City Council’s plan to completely re-surface the northern bypass.

Work started Tuesday 8 March to re-surface the 2 .1 kilometre section of the bypass between the Mitchell Highway and William Maker Drive.