Armidale Regional Council (ARC) has filled more than 10,000 pesky potholes in recent months, thanks in part to a significant grant from the NSW State Government.
Following 2022’s floods and torrential rains, potholes have become the scourge of drivers in rural NSW.
But the Council’s Transport Department has smoothed the way for the region’s drivers by finalising the Pothole Repair Grant works under the $635,000 provided from the State Government’s $500 million package to repair road damage.
The funding grant from Transport NSW, called Fixing Local Roads Pothole Repair Round, was announced earlier in the year and was designed to support emergency and heavy patching of the pothole damage to roads.
It followed the declaration of a Statewide Roads Emergency by Local Government NSW (LGNSW) late last year, in the wake of more than 220 natural disasters declared across NSW during 2022.
ARC has completed the following road improvements under the funding.
- 3403 potholes repaired on urban roads.
- 441 potholes repaired on regional roads.
- 6289 potholes repaired on rural roads.
“Keeping our community safe on our roads is a high priority for us at Council,” said Mayor Sam Coupland.
“Heavy rain episodes in the past have caused significant damage to our roads including causing large amounts of potholes.
“This funding has helped us use additional resources to raise the condition profile of the sealed road network in the Armidale region, making our roads safer and better to drive on.”
Mayor Coupland said Council would continue to monitor and repair potholes under general internal funding.