PEOPLE are being urged to report potholes to Wattle Range Council, with heavy rains prompting staff to redeploy additional resources to patch up road damage.
Wattle Range Council chief executive Ben Gower said a “large amount” of council’s unsealed roads had deteriorated following heavy rains, citing potholes as the major issue.
Mr Gower said council was prioritising its resources and all five of its graders were working on the unsealed road network undertaking maintenance grading, while two crews were pothole patching using loaders, including the placement of additional gravel on roads.
He said staff from council’s Parks and Gardens team had also been redeployed to assist with pothole patching.
“This will mean we will have a further dozen staff out on the unsealed road network to address the backlog of work fixing potholes,” Mr Gower said.
“As you would imagine, with almost 2,500 km of roads to maintain, and almost 2,000 km of them being unsealed, potholes are a high priority on our works list.”
Mr Gower said maintaining council’s unsealed road network was a long-term challenge, as a large number of roads require additional gravel pavement.
He said council has committed to spending $1.2m on additional gravel pavement for its unsealed roads, marking an increase of almost $400,000 from the previous year.
“The issue of potholes on sealed roads is a different challenge,” Mr Gower said.
“Not all roads are council’s responsibility to maintain and the State Government is responsible for maintaining the condition of our major transport links and highways.
“While Council’s sealed roads are in relatively good condition, the major State Government road network is not, and needs urgent attention.
“Council have consistently requested repair works on these roads, however, these requests have been generally ignored for years.”
Mr Gower encouraged members of the community to advise staff of problem areas on council-owned roads.
Community members can call 8733 0900 or email council@wattlerange.sa.gov.au to report issues and are urged to include the location and size of potholes in the report.
Residents are encouraged to refer issues on any of the major State Government roads to the South Australian Infrastructure and Transport Department via www.dit.sa.gov.au/contact_us/compliments_and_complaints or on 1300 872 677.
