Building Better Roads

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Consultation has concluded

As well as increasing its spending on local roads and improving road quality, Orange City Council wants to engage with local residents to better explain how roads are maintained.
One this site you can find out more and have your say about :








As well as increasing its spending on local roads and improving road quality, Orange City Council wants to engage with local residents to better explain how roads are maintained.
One this site you can find out more and have your say about :








Consultation has concluded
  • Take a tour of Orange's streets with Mayor John Davis

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    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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  • Council uses jet-patcher to ease pothole backlog

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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."



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  • Patching priority

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    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.

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  • New bridge to make truck travel safer

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    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.”


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  • Weather hinders road maintenance

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    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.

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  • Renewing the surface of a road

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    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.


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  • How long do roads last?

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    When to maintain, and when to renew a road?

    As Orange City Council manages its network of roads, one of the key decisions if when to :
    • do maintenance work on a road, by patching potholes, or
    • renewing a road, by digging up the damaged road surface and adding a new surface.
    This article is about how these decisions are taken.
    Orange City Council engineers inspect all of the road network regularly.

    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.

    Insert table image here....

    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.


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  • Which Orange roads are being upgraded?

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    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.

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  • Understanding road repairs

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    As well as improving the quality of local roads, Orange City Council is working to improve the community's understanding of how roads are managed and how repairs happen.

    This simple introduction outlines how roads are built.

    A road is made up of three layers :

    1. the Surface

    and then, two layers of foundations known as

    2. the Pavement and
    3. the Formation (Subgrade)

    The ‘Pavement’ is what supports the road surface and is what gives the road its strength. The pavement is made up of one or more layers of gravel known as the base and sub-base. The pavement is generally 300mm to 500mm thick. The pavement can be further strengthened by adding a 'binder' into the gravel during construction.

    The lowest layer in a road is natural material known as the subgrade. This is basically the earth beneath the pavement generally consists of clay, ironstone and occasionally rock. The strength of the sub-grade can also be improved by adding a binder into it.


    The lowest layer in a road is natural material known as subgrade. This is basically the earth beneath the pavement generally consisting of clay, ironstone and occasionally rock. The strength of the sub-grade can also be improved by adding a binder into it.


    ROAD MAINTENANCE (Repair) OPTIONS

    Road maintenance involves the repair of small failures (pot holes) in the surface or underlying pavement, so that the rest of the road can reach its nominated life in a safe and trafficable state.

    As the road gets older a number of factors will affect how much maintenance it needs. These factors include:

    • Changes in traffic volumes and heavy vehicle use
    • Weather patterns
    • Changes in the water table
    • Gravel quality and subgrade conditions
    • Installation of underground services

    Road repairs are usually tackled by ‘patching’. There are generally two main types of patching.

    • Pot-hole Patching
    • Heavy Patching.

    1. Pot-hole Patching

    This involves filling holes that have developed in a sealed road with a mixture of bitumen and stone.

    There are three options of pot hole patching used by Orange City Council.

    Jet-Patching: This process involves the use of the City Council’s Jet-patching truck.

    The jet-patcher pumps out a mix of bitumen emulsion (a mixture of bitumen and water) and stone that is used to fill the hole. It is usually used on small to medium sized holes and doesn’t require rolling as it relies on the emulsion to “break” and bind the stone together. This technique does not generally perform well when patching in wet conditions.

    Cold Mix Patching: This type of pot-hole patching involves filling holes with a mixture of emulsion, stone and sand. Compacting the material into the hole using a roller is generally used tor to compress the different sized stone and sand together.

    Depending on conditions, compaction is not always possible and the holes are sometimes filled above the road surface for passing traffic to compress.

    This approach is used to patch medium to large potholes, or where the underground pavement has given way in a heavily-used wheel path.(known as a ‘shove’) Cold-mix patching performs better than jet-patching in wet conditions, but is not ideal in wet weather.

    Hot-mix (Asphalt) patching : This is generally undertaken on larger areas where a portion of pavement and surface is removed and the asphalt is placed and compacted with a roller.

    Asphalt is produced by using bitumen, that’s been heated to approximately 180 degrees Celsius, added to a mixture of stone and sand and is delivered to the site hot.
    As the mix cools down it hardens and forms the patch. This type of patching can be used in large to very large pot-holes (and ‘shoves’) and performs best of all patching techniques in wet conditions. It is also the most expensive and comes at a greater risk of injury to crews.

    2. Heavy Patching

    Heavy patching is used when large sections of the road are badly damaged or deformed.

    The remaining surface is removed and the pavement gravel is pulverised by road reclaimer machinery.

    Then a binder is added for strength, the pavement is watered and re-compacted before a surface seal of either asphalt or sprayed seal is applied.

    This is a more complicated and expensive type of patching and is usually only used when the road is in a very bad condition.

    When the entire road needs to be replaced, there are generally two options.



  • Latest stage of bypass to get hot mix resurfacing

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    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.


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