More on board to repair flood damaged roads

21 July 2017

Council enlists construction contractors to do minor and medium repairs

Council this week boosted its available flood-recovery workforce by enlisting six construction companies to undertake minor to medium flood repairs on its bridge and road assets once those jobs become shovel-ready.

Cyclone Debbie delivered a $23.5 million road and bridge repair bill when floodwaters swept through parts of the shire in late March. Under Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (NDRRA), Council is unable to use its own workforce or plant to repair the flood damage as these costs would not be recoverable. Thus, repair works must be contracted out resulting in inevitable delays due to the need for good governance and proper process to be followed.

Now that Council has the resources on its books to do the work, it is expected that 1000 repairs could be completed over the next nine months.

“Getting an approved panel of providers is a major milestone in our roads recovery effort,” said Coordinator Flood Restoration Nigel Dobson. “With this panel of providers on board, we will be able to cut through some of the red tape of contracting out works. Initially a two-stage engagement process is a little slower but it will pay dividends later.

“However, the community still needs to understand that planning, programming and packaging work will take time and we ask them to continue to be patient.”

While the panel of provider contractors undertake minor and medium repairs, there are still 50 plus complex repair jobs that require specialist geotechnical investigations or significant engineering design.

“While the geotechnical investigations and engineering design are underway on a number of these jobs, the fact is the start of any construction is still many months away.

“While we have done temporary repairs on many of these roads to get them open and keep them open, we need motorists to obey the signage, be courteous to other road users and drive to suit conditions.

“We regularly check these roads for further deterioration in case they need to be closed due to safety reasons. However, while we can manage the risks under restricted conditions (speed limits, weight restrictions or one-lane flows) we will keep them open for the convenience of the community.”

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Caption: Cudgera Creek Road is one of the 50 plus complex jobs that will take many more months to investigate and design before repairs can even start.