Wagga's crumbling roads in councilors crosshairs at upcoming meeting

Deputy Mayor Amelia Parkins, councillors Rod Kendall and Michael Henderson have submitted questions on notice for Monday night's council meeting about the poor state of roads that have recently been repaired

Cr Kendall asked the council to provide a "holistic report on road repair failures for work undertaken in the past 12 months."

He said he expected the report to be more of a "good news story", but wanted to ensure the appropriate lessons were being learnt by those responsible for road repairs.

"I'd be very surprised if it hasn't already been done, that they've say down at the end of those contracts where the work wasn't accepted, and done a review with that contractor," he said.

"It's really just a matter of know there have been learnings out of this, and so we can change the way things are being done.

"The extra money we've put in [to roads] this year is pretty significant - close to $10m. I don't think we can keep that up, so it'd be nice to know it's going to be effective."

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Cr Amelia Parkins requested an update on the road works recently redone by Wagga City Council's contractor on Bourke Street, noting surface damage around the Urana Street roundabout.

Bourke Street has been an ongoing issue for residents and council, after the state of the road contributed to a number of accidents, including at least one fatality in 2019.

In May, Council contractors tore up a 650m section of the road for rehabilitation. Two months later, councillors said the roadworks looked like they'd "never been done".

Council staff conceded this in August, when they said the work was "did not meet quality standards".

In their response to Cr Parkins, council staff said the wear currently visible on Bourke Street is a temporary aggregate seal, to be replaced with a final wearing course in November.

Cr Henderson asked whether there was additional work to be completed on Old Narrandera Road, and when the works currently underway on Lord Baden Powell Drive were due for completion.

Work started on the two major roads in early August, and was expected to run until around October 20, but on October 11 Council announced the Lord Baden Powell Drive upgrade had reached the halfway point.

The project is now estimated to be completed in early December.

Cr Henderson said members of the community had expressed concerns to him about the quality of work on Old Narrandera Road.

He said this was a major issue for the community, and important elected representatives are asking hard questions of council staff.

"The concern I heard from the community was in regards to the finished surface not being smooth. It's corrugated where they've added on," he said.

"I personally don't believe it's to the quality it should be.

"We've had other issues with the quality of work produced by contractors around the city ... are these contractors doing this to the standard requested? who's funding all this?"

Council staff said in their response the road surface "met specifications".

"During the construction a pavement failure of the base-course was identified for re-work, this led to a small section near the highway end having its wearing surface delayed and applied at a separate date," they said.

"As such the pavement is not uniform at that point, however the surface meets specification."

Councillors Henderson and Kendall said their questions had been prompted by members of the community, and they were not aware of the other's inquiry.

Cr Parkins was contacted, but did not respond prior to publication.

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