Why did this happen? Who is responsible for this?

The Office of Local Government is currently conducting a full investigation into the incident with Council’s cooperation. At the completion of this process, the findings and supporting documentation will all be made available to the public.

So what’s different this time? Why should we trust Council now?

Council is taking all necessary steps to ensure the rectification of works on MR358 are done properly and to regain the trust of the community. We are working closely with Transport for NSW on the project, with project management assistance being provided by Public Works Advisory. Geotechnical consultants from Douglas Partners continue to work with Council and are also providing their technical expertise to GHD – the consultants undertaking the design. Representatives from these agencies form part of the Project Control Group – so all decisions, including the decision to close the road, are being made with expert scrutiny. 

Underneath the failing sections, the original road still exists. Why can’t you excavate down to the old levels and open the road now?

This is a valid question, and has been considered at length by the Project Control Group. Council have been looking at ways to both keep the road open, and reopen the road under controlled conditions as soon as possible. Unfortunately the current indicators do not allow the road to be opened safely at this time. With multiple high risk sections that are changing all the time, spending money on temporary ‘fixes’ may just mean spending a lot of money for no benefit – only one section needs to remain too dangerous for the road to be impassable.

Why can’t the most affected residents get permits in order to travel the closed section?

Permitting only some residents to access the road does not decrease the risk for those residents. Unfortunately the road must remain closed for all users for the time being, to ensure the safety of all users.

How long is it going to take to reopen the road?

As we are only at the start of the design process – this is hard to quantify at this time. The project could take up to 3 years to complete. However, GHD will be looking to identify priority sections of work that may allow the road to be reopened earlier under controlled conditions. Council will also be engaging civil contractors as early as possible in order to potentially start work on these sections ahead of the full design process, which will take 6 months.

How much is it going to cost us?

As above, this is very hard to quantify at this time and will be dependent on the final design. Council will, however, continue to seek external sources of funding to assist with delivery of the project and minimize the financial impact on the Shire.

Will the repaired road be able to take B-Double vehicles?

The design brief given to GHD is for the finished road to be passable by B-Double vehicles.

With Coulson’s Creek Road closed, other roads are taking more traffic including heavy vehicles. The Merriwa to Scone road is in a terrible state – what is Council doing about it?

Council will undertake a full safety audit of the Merriwa to Scone road (MR62) in coming weeks. There are significant upgrade works planned for MR62 for this and next financial years – more than $6.5 million dollars in widening, pavement renewal and other safety improvements.

What about the other roads in the Shire? Is Council going to allocate more money to roads?

Council is listening to the feedback from the community and will be preparing the budget for next year with a specific focus on improvements to road maintenance and renewal – particularly in regards to our unsealed road network.

The impacts to affected residents is a lot more than an ‘extra 30 minutes’. This is more than just travel time – this is disconnecting people from their families, work, services. Why doesn’t Council acknowledge this?

The 30 minutes additional travel time is for travel between Scone and Willow Tree – is does not consider residents along Coulson’s Creek Road that may now need to back-track. Some residents may incur up to one and a half hours additional travel time with the closure. Council does not seek to minimize the impacts of the MR358 failure.

How will Council take into consideration the personal costs to residents when choosing the final design?

Part of the Council’s consideration of the final design will be favourably weighted to the design that allows rapid reinstatement of traffic to minimize disruption to the community. This means, a more expensive design that allows quicker opening may be favoured.