Quad bikes getting full condition picture of Tweed’s paths

23 April 2020

Condition surveys of roads and footpaths help Council set works program

Council contractors this week began surveying 260 kilometres of Tweed footpaths, cyclepaths and shared-user paths to assess their condition and help Council plan future maintenance works.

Quad bikes fitted with cameras and lasers are driving the paths at a brisk walking pace over the next two weeks to collect data on their condition. The cameras pick up cracking, patches and deformations while the lasers pick up dips, rutting and roughness. A condition rating of 1 means in ‘near new’ condition while a rating of 5 means in poor condition.

Every four years Council rates the condition of its roads and footpaths to build its four-year rolling delivery program of all the stabilisation, rehabilitation and resealing works that need to be done to keep good roads and footpaths in good condition and rebuild those in poor condition.

It costs between $10 and $20 a square metre to keep a good road in good repair, compared to $80 a square metre to rebuild a road in poor condition.

Every year on average Council rebuilds seven kilometres of road; bitumen or asphalt 80 kilometres of road; and rebuilds one kilometre of poor quality footpath.

The contractors have completed the surveys of the Tweed’s 1254-kilometre road network.

Council adopted the approach of keeping good roads good and rebuilding poor roads following the NSW Government’s Fit for the Future program undertaken by all local government authorities.

Tweed’s Fit for the Future results saw an extra $2.5 million a year dedicated to roads and footpaths.

Data from the current road and footpath surveys will give Council the first real measure of whether the overall condition rating of the Tweed’s roads and footpaths has improved since Council adopted the ‘keep good roads good’ approach.

Council’s aim is to achieve a fair to average condition rating (rating 3) on its entire road and footpath network.

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Caption: Quad bikes fitted with cameras and lasers are driving paths in the Tweed over the next two weeks to collect data on their condition.