'One of the worst I've seen': Concerns $5.5m Wagga repair plan won't last

This week Wagga City Council announced 13 sections of road across the LGA would undergo road rehabilitation works, including Boorooma Street, which traverses the borders of Estella and Boorooma.

Council's director of infrastructure services Warren Faulkner said council plans to rehabilitate the road between the Messenger Avenue and Farrer Road roundabouts by applying an "interim fix to remove the patchwork quilt of repairs to potholes."

"The temporary seal will provide a smoother and safer road surface until a full upgrade of the street is carried out as part of the Northern Growth Area Contributions plan," Mr Faulkner said.

Former president of the now defunct Estella Progress Association Bruce Durham reacted to the news by declaring a temporary fix on the narrow two-lane road was simply not good enough.

"It will be just like some of the other roads around Wagga," Mr Durham said.

"They have spent that much time doing a temporary fix then in a matter of months they have broken up again.

"It's going to need something [more than that]... because the traffic on that road is simply unbelievable."

The Estella resident said the road has been pothole-ridden for years.

"It would have to be one of the worst roads I've seen anywhere," Mr Durham said.

"It has at least as much traffic or more than others."

Mr Durham believes patching those up has only made matters worse.

"Putting little patches on it makes matters worse because they usually make them too high and then you're bouncing over the bumps," he said.

He said it's so bad he can hear cars approaching while he's out for a walk.

"You can hear the cars coming by the banging, so it's a rough road," he said.

Besides Boorooma Street, other road works include repairs to sections of Kooringal Road, Copland Street, Morgan Street, Forsyth Street and Johnston Street, as well as the length of Church Street and Cross Street.

Further repairs are set to take place along Arnott Street in Ashmont, McNickle Road, O'Briens Creek Road and Oxley Bridge Road.

Mr Faulkner is hopeful the works will go some way towards addressing the backlog of works outlined in a comprehensive report to councillors last November.

He said the roads had been prioritised for rehabilitation and renewal in the 2023-2024 financial year as part of Council's longer term asset management plan.

While no timetable for the works has yet been announced, council said a schedule of works will be developed once the contracts have been finalised.

The program of works is being funded by council, the state government's Regional Emergency Road Repair Fund and the federal government's Roads to Recovery Program.