Questions from the Chamber 1. Water and vegetation getting under - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Questions from the Chamber

1. Water and vegetation getting under bitumen surfaces a primary source of road degradation. Therefore, why does BSC not seal the cracks in existing roads using hot bitumen to extend surface life? Photo below is sealing a crack in a bitumen road (stock photo). –

• BSC has chosen to place its efforts in resealing complete sections as this is more cost effective

and better value for money. Reseals ~$10/m2 including heavy patching and preparation Crack sealing ~$6/lm

• Water getting under the pavement is due to the maintenance (or lack thereof) of the table

drains and other drainage and vegetation management. Council has been increasing its vegetation management budget in the past three years and trying to address previous poor grading techniques which ignored vegetation management and the need for roadside drainage.

Questions Continued

2. The hot-mix “Snuffleupagus” pours a hot mix of bitumen and gravel into pot holes. Is there a reason why the filled pothole is not compacted afterwards? – The crew need to be upskilled, compaction should be done

• This statement is incorrect. The modern paveline type machines actually do not require

manual compaction and the stone and emulsion is placed using compressed air. This is not to say that some works completed are not of a poor quality. We have put significant effort into retraining our crew and am awaiting a new truck which will improve our patching.

• If you are referring to cold mix patching – then yes it needs to be compacted.

Questions Continued

3. A number of gravel roads have had potholes filled with bitumen hot-mix. Has this been effective and if so, why isn’t it done more frequently?

• It can be effective but the intention is that this should only done as a temporary fix in higher

risk areas when other plant is not available i.e. grader crew. These patches, although effective in the short term, cause issues when the grader crews get round to doing the maintenance

• grading. Also, if not removed they can cause weak points in the pavement. Therefore that is

why there are only done on a limited basis, if too many are done it would be costly, plus slow down the maintenance grading team as they work through their programme

• The preferred treatment is placement of gravel compacted, this still can only be temporary as

it is difficult to get materials to bond to the failure surface.

Questions Continued

4. The ambient temperatures in Dorrigo do not get that high, relative to many parts of

• Australia. However, when Dorrigo does experience hot days, many bitumen roads start to

melt resulting in either permanent degradation of the road surface, or the need for BSC to douse the roads with water for cooling. Is there a different type of bitumen used in Dorrigo to elsewhere, or is there some other drying/setting process needed to ensure a strong surface which does not suit the Dorrigo climate?

• This issue occurs nationwide, New standards do not deal with temperature well (the problem

is 10x worse in hot climates).

• Cold Emulsion seals can be considered but they also have their issues.
• Most seals perform well. The new design standards specify less stone and more bitumen.

Questions Continued

5. What is the procedure for reporting a pothole to BSC? Is there a more efficient method then telephoning or emailing the general BSC contacts details, as these reports seem to more

• ften than not get lost, or misinterpreted?
• Service request system, then requests are inspected and logged into our maintenance

management system (REFLECT). If you do not receive a response please ring the Council – we need to know.

Questions Continued

6. A number of road repairs get repeated at the same location for the same degradation. What asset management techniques are is BSC using to identify that a repair has or has not been successful at a particular, specific location, so that future repairs can be improved upon. – Reflect

• All issues are logged into our maintenance management system (REFLECT).
• All defects are photographed before and after repair as Councils records.

Questions Continued

Questions Continued

Questions Continued

7. Please provide the (i) estimated construction period and the (ii) actual construction periods for the replacement and/or major repairs to the following bridges over the past 10 years:

– Tyringham Road: Deep Creek, Little Murray River, Cut Bank Creek – Coramba Road: Bielsdown River near Billings Road –

• Not interested in discussing the old urban myths and the past practices whether factual or not. We need

to move on and focus on improved service delivery.

• What I can say is that of recent years our bridge crews have been concentrating on minimising the

disruption to the residents affected by works. If this means fully closing a road we may still need to do this following engagement with residents to ensure that transport options and emergency access can still be arranged. Tyringham Road:

• Deep Creek – Construction period approx. 15 weeks. Change of scope immediately before works were to

begin, changing a full precast design to cast in situ. Estimated at 12 weeks for cast in situ.

• Little Murray River 2009 – I believe it was around the 20-22 weeks construction time on this one, with an

estimated of much less than that. 2 flood events occurred during the middle of construction.

Questions Continued

Little Murray River – flooding during construction

Questions Continued

7. Please provide the (i) estimated construction period and the (ii) actual construction periods for the replacement and/or major repairs to the following bridges over the past 10 years:

– Tyringham Road: Deep Creek, Little Murray River, Cut Bank Creek – Coramba Road: Bielsdown River near Billings Road

• Cut Bank Creek – Original scope of works was the replacement of 3 girders. Once on site scope increased

to replace 9 as damage to the top face of the girders had been hidden by the deck. . Estimated timeframe 2 weeks, actual time on site 4.5 weeks. Lost time of 2 days for wet weather. Coramba Road:

• Peaks – From what I can find estimated was 16 weeks, final construction was 17 ( I believe)

History is History What about Whisky Creek – 7 day period – closed for 4 days only.

Questions Continued

8. The construction of the Reids Creek bridge on Kalang Road seems to have been a success. Is BSC (i) considering using this technology again in other areas – Yes.

• Council considers replacement of all bridges on a case by case basis, with

differing site conditions, traffic loadings, budget, priority and material availability influencing the end result.

• This being said, we are seeking to simplify the number of different

bridging systems used to replace/renew our bridge stock and systems such as Inquik and other precast options have shown great versatility.

• A Request for Quotation is called for bridge renewals which allows the

Council to test the current market and systems available at the time.

Questions Continued

8. The construction of the Reids Creek bridge on Kalang Road seems to have been a success. Is BSC (ii) considering completing closing some roads for a number of days to facilitate the rapid replacement of a bridge?

• Again yes. Council possesses a number of large number of Timber bridges

within its bridge stock, and to provide a full bytrack to traffic on every project is cost prohibitive.

• Council has recently employed the use of a pedestrian only bytrack on a

few of our bridge replacement jobs where a detour is available or short closure periods are expected. Examples of which include Feeneys Bridge

• n Coramba Road and Whisky Creek bridge.

Questions Continued

9. A number of roads on the Plateau have been recently re-sealed by applying a molten layer of bitumen and topping with gravel.

a) Why isn’t the road levelled or made more smooth before over-topping with a new thin layer

• f bitumen? Doesn’t a bumpy road just result in more forces on the road’s surface (and

vehicles) resulting in premature failure (of both)?

• This theory is correct, however context must be considered, reducing the roughness will

extend the life but in low traffic volume roads the degradation caused by the additional roughness is often minimal, we have to assess the net benefit and often the additional cost to fully re-work the surface does not provide that net benefit. Minor pavement corrections are made on identified sections.

• Reseal - $10/m2, Rehabilitation $75/m2, Traffic volumes all under 200 VPD
• We would only have achieved 9 km total reseals vs projected 66km during the past 3 years.

This would not be considered best value for money

• Average Roughness for Dorrigo is 137 counts, Rehabilitation trigger is between 250 and 300.

Questions Continued

9. A number of roads on the Plateau have been recently re-sealed by applying a molten layer of bitumen and topping with gravel.

b) Whom in BSC is responsible for signing-off on the roadworks to ensure it meets certain quality standards? –

• Supervisors / Engineers / Asset Management / Internal QA personnel / Sub-contractors QA

personnel for seals and asphalts etc.- plenty of checks and balances – RMS for Waterfall Way

• Seal designs must comply with Design Standard which has changed causing some issues. In

addition bitumen's are now different. c) When a poor quality re-surfacing job has occurred (such as east of North Dorrigo on Tyringham Road), why does it take many months to have the road fixed and why should it take the Chamber & the community repeated requests to BSC to see it fixed? Is it unrealistic to expect that a dangerous section of road due to loose bitumen surface – as identified by BSC - shouldn’t be fixed within days, not 9+ months? –

• Firstly these works were not fixed as a result of any customer requests, the works were

identified as a warranty claim which then took significant time for these works to be

• completed. As a result this contractor is no longer favoured.

Questions Continued

9. A number of roads on the Plateau have been recently re-sealed by applying a molten layer of bitumen and topping with gravel.

d) Why aren’t the frequent users of certain roads informed of upcoming roadworks and possible delays? Eg the recent re-surfacing of Vine and Hickory streets and Tyringham road?

• This information was advertised in accordance with our standard practices. Eg.

web site and paper. Should the road be closed for more permanent works, then letter box drops are conducted. As the reseal works are of a temporary nature they are normally conducted under traffic control arrangements with minor delays to traffic flow. It is difficult to target ’frequent users’ in these circumstances, especially when the works are dependent on weather conditions and availability of contractors.

Questions Continued

• 10. Why doesn’t BSC target specific users of roads to inform them of

developments? For example, say at a location there might be an extended period of time for, say concrete to set. Why couldn’t a sign be erected near the works with the project tasks, step by step, with an indication of where the projects up to? This is a practical example of community engagement. At present, seeing a worksite without any work for a number of weeks appears to indicate it’s been ‘abandoned’, whereas there may be legitimate reasons.

• Installing project specific signage is a good idea on larger jobs, This has

been used for the Bellingen Main Street Upgrade, however on smaller projects the lead times and cost of signage would not be practical, especially when these need to be updated/refreshed on a regular basis. We will trial it on Deep Creek Bridge replacement?

Questions Continued

• 11. Is there a general safety, vegetation management and surface upgrade program

for Coramba Rd from Wild Cattle Creek to the Coffs Council border? Are there any plans to widen and straighten this road? This is the main road to Coffs Harbour when the mountain is closed due to fire, flood or accident and is used by sizeable trucks and caravans despite the “not suitable for long vehicles”

• signs. This has led to some potentially nasty near misses in the past.
• Council has no plans to straighten / upgrade Coramba Road.
• Coffs and Bellingen Councils applied for a $5M grant to upgrade the road however

this was unsuccessful.

• Feeneys Culvert (formally Bridge) has recently been replaced on this section of
• road. In this instance the opportunity was taken to slightly realign the road,

providing safer and easier access to long vehicles around what was otherwise a very tight corner.

Bridges:

• Deep Creek Bridge - $1.54M - (progressing)
• Whisky Creek Bridge - $200K – (completed)
• Rodgers Road Bridge - $57K – (completed)
• Johnsens Bridge - $20K – (progressing)
• Smiths Lane Bridge - $220K – (progressing)
• Adams Bridge - $200K – (progressing)
• Bielsdown Bridge - $1.6M – (planning)
• Breakwells Bridge - $168,000 (planned)
• McKenzies Creek - $228,000 (planned)
• Little Murray, Deervale - $18,000 (planned)

Bridges Infrastructure $ value - $4,251,000 Community infrastructure:

• Dorrigo to Dangar Falls Stage 1 pathway - $258,008
• Dorrigo Tennis Club Improvement retaining wall - $56,602
• Coronation Park Redevelopment project - $326,880
• Dangar Falls upgrade - $873,372
• Dorrigo new STP - $7.5M (completed)

Community Infrastructure $ value - $9,014,854

Dorrigo Investments - Updated

Other projects/programs: · Dorrigo Library connected program - $2,000 · Inclusive Tourism Workshops - $5,000 (Dorrigo component) · Dangar Falls Reserve Bush Regeneration 2017/18 - $5,800 Other programs/projects $ value - $12,800

Total Dorrigo Investment $15,496,654

Roads

• 32.5 km Resealing - $1,845,000
• 0.65 km rehabilitation - $373,000

Roads Infrastructure $ value -$2,218,000

Where We Are

What does our community expect?

What is the willingness the pay?

Community Agreed Service Levels

Questions