The long-awaited refurbishment of Kooringal Road has once again been pushed back by Wagga City Council.
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The works will now not resume until January or February, nearly eight months after they were originally touted to be completed.
Council said this is due to "ongoing unfavourable weather conditions" as well as an extension granted by the federal government.
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The 2.55 kilometre upgrade to the major Wagga road was meant to be finished by June 30 but came up 800 metres short.
Works on the final stretch have been plagued by rain-forced delays ever since and council confirmed in September the project had blown $925,000 over budget.
Last month, council committed to completing the upgrade by Christmas, but director of infrastructure services Warren Faulkner has confirmed this is no longer the plan.
"It is not normal to have this many delays on one project and there's a number of factors which have not helped council in trying to get to the end of these works," Mr Faulkner said.
"The above average rainfall and cold temperatures we experienced in winter took its toll and we've seen that continue in spring."
The deadline for projects being funded by the government's local road and community infrastructure grants, which was previously December 31, has since been pushed back to June 30 due to the impacts of COVID-19.
Mr Faulkner said this means council can push back the works to minimise disruption to the local community and adopt a new pavement design and construction method which could dramatically reduce the completion time of the project.
"We are going to trial a new pavement rehabilitation methodology that utilises specialised machines to recycle and strengthen the existing pavement, thus reducing the need to remove and import significant quantities of material that takes considerable time and effort," Mr Faulkner said.
"Utilising this style of road building could see the 800-metre section of Kooringal Road finished in two weeks if all goes to plan. This is a significant difference to 10 weeks as was originally planned."
He said this will mean traffic management services will be required for a shorter period of time, there will be fewer detours and disruptions for residents and the adjoining road network will be under less pressure from increased traffic.
"The lead contractor has an innovative approach that is second to none and we're confident it will leave a finished product that council, the residents and the users of Kooringal Road will be more than satisfied with," he said.
Mr Faulkner also acknowledged the potholes across Wagga and said council is doing what it can to make repairs.
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