Since January this year, Council has filled more than 31,000 potholes but with more than 900 still outstanding has a long way to go.
Sunshine and dry weather has helped Council reduce its pothole backlog with more than 8,000 potholes filled following the July flood events which saw significant damage to the local road networks.
Facilities and Services Group Manager Greg Kable said ‘the recent weather events have had a huge impact on our roads – normally we would have around 50 potholes outstanding however, following the rain and floods in July we can get up to more than 900 potholes waiting for repair.
Mayor Ryan Palmer said, “We know that that the repair and maintenance of our roads is one of the biggest issues for our community and increased weather events has caused a lot of damage to our roads impacting residents, business and visitors.
“Council has a road network that covers more than 800kms – we have our teams out fixing potholes as quickly as they can but with the ongoing rain, it has been a huge task. The recent sunshine has helped a lot but there is a lot more to do he said.
Potholes damage can occur through either road damage or through moisture and is often a combination of both.
Mr Kable said “many of our roads were designed decades ago, on old infrastructure in low lying locations where water takes a long time to dry out. Water gets under the road pavement or through cracks in the surface and without very much effort at all, the road opens up and creates potholes.
“The more rain, the more water and the more potholes we get” he said.
Mayor Palmer said, “We know that that the repair and maintenance of our roads is one of the biggest issues for our community – we also know that across the community, there is a lot of concern about the way road works are prioritised, potholes repaired and why certain roads are upgraded and others are not he said.
To help explain the way in which roads are managed across Port Stephens Council this week launched a series of educational videos, FAQs and information on how roads are rehabilitated and repaired.
“The information outlines what roads Council is responsible for, how we determine which road we repair next and our process for pothole repairs” he said.
We hope it explains the process for road repairs and clears up the community’s understanding on potholes.
The Port Stephens Council website explains the details around a wet seal and dry seal, why they often have to repair the same pothole more than once and why some roads that don’t look damaged are rehabilitated before others.
Mr Kable said ‘The more we know about the more we can fix and it’s easy to send through the details through our online form. You can also ring council anytime on 4988 0255 to let us know.
