Plans to seal Bartletts Road scaled back

27 February 2019

Detailed design identifies extra cost items

Council has had to scale back its plan to seal two kilometres of Bartletts Road and will now be sealing only one kilometre for the $750,000 made available for the job by the Federal Government.

“Council welcomed the offer of funding from the Australian Government to seal this road to reduce the dust and noise for residents from the significant amount of traffic travelling to and from the tip, often laden and pulling trailers,” Manager Roads and Stormwater Danny Rose said. “But we underestimated the cost of this job in our funding application and have had to scale it back to the limits of the funding received.”

Two factors were not fully costed in the original funding application and both require significant sums.

First, the power poles along the roadside need to be relocated.

“Sealing the roadway will mean that vehicles will be more capable of travelling up to the current 100km/h speed limit. Leaving the existing power poles so close to the edge of the seal does not meet modern safety standards and this hazard needs to be addressed. We have to relocate them before we seal the section.

“Council has decided to relocate all the power poles along the entire two-kilometre section so this task does not need to be revisited in the event we secure additional funds to extend the seal in the future.”

The second factor not fully costed in the funding application was the fact that the road cannot be built-up from its current level, as it would act as a greater barrier to the drainage of the floodplain and potentially damage neighbouring cane crops.

“Normally for a job like this we would add a new gravel layer to the existing base and then seal over the top. However, at Bartletts Road, it’s critical for our canefarmers that the road is not raised, meaning that we need to excavate out the old road pavement and then rebuild the road formation for the new sealed section.

“The cane industry is important for the economic prosperity of the Tweed and Council has an obligation to work with canegrowers around roads and other infrastructure that affects their operations.”

The section of road to now be sealed runs from the end of the current seal to Saunders Lane.

Roadwork and any detour signage will be posted ahead of construction starting in April for completion by 30 June 2019.

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