PETITION FOR CLASSIFICATION OF BULGA & COLLING ROADS FROM LOCAL TO REGIONAL

Help Secure the Money to Make Our Roads Safe 

The  Facts

•  Greater Taree City Council (GTCC) has no funds to ensure our roads are safe and appropriately maintained.

• GTCC’s backlog of infrastructure works is $200 million (as at Sept 2011) and is expected to increase by $20 million per year.

•  Unless we can secure additional funds for our roads they will continue to deteriorate and become increasingly unsafe for use by our families and friends, the school bus, the business community and local, interstate and international tourists.

• The only solution is to secure financial support from the State and Federal government.

• The State government gives annual funding to local councils to maintain roads classified as “Regional” because of their significance.

 How you can help!

Sign the petition today calling for the classification of Bulga and Colling Roads, along Tourist Drive 8, from Local to Regional Roads. Tourist Drive 8 is a heavily promoted tourist drive that provides access to the Legendary Ellenborough Falls and connects the Manning and Hastings Valleys yet much of it is classified as “Local” road and therefore receives no assistance from the State.

For signatures to be valid you have to write your name, address and signature. Please send the completed sheets to Sandra Kwa, c/o Elands Post Office, Elands 2429 by Tuesday 31st January 2012.

For a copy of the petition or for further information please contact us via the email td8actiongroup@gmail.com or post a comment on this site.

COMMUNITY MEETING - WEDNESDAY 7TH DECEMBER 2011 BULGA HALL

As you are all aware a community meeting was held on 27th November 2011.  Given the diverse responses and the need to further discuss the matter it was suggested that a follow up meeting be held on Wednesday 7th  December 2011 at the Bulga Hall.  The outcome is detailed below:

1. Assessment of what's required to make the Road safe

• Use the engineering and road building knowledge within our community to prepare a document that outlines clearly the work required on the Upper Bulga Road to make it safe and specifies a maintenance program to keep it this way
• This document would look at factors such as the piping for water management and road design
• The aim of this document is to quantify the work required so we have facts and figures to support our request
• Damon, Greg and Kerry to work on this project together and have offered to make any information they put together available to individuals to use for an assessment of their own road
• Marie offered to share the drainage points information provided by GTCC when they built their property

2. See the reinstatement of Upper Bulga Road's classification as a Regional Road

• A petition requesting the reinstatement of Upper Bulga Road and Colling Road as a regional road is currently in circulation
• We would aim to get as many signatures on this petition over the peak holiday time
• Some key points identified to include in the submission for the reclassification:
• Ellenborough Falls will soon be a National Park
• The potential impact of the War Veterans' Remembrance Drive initiative
• The potential negative environmental impact of the road washing away
• Ensuring access for emergency vehicles
• Safety concerns for locals and tourists
• If the School bus could no longer travel down the road, the Dept of Transport would have to pay parents to take their children to school
• It was suggested that we approach GTCC and ask them to put a counter at the Falls to determine the number of cars using the road

3. Lobby Council

•  Seek to get the support from GTCC to lodge a joint submission with Port Macquarie Hastings Council for the reclassification of the road
• Maybe get Councillors to come up and see the road
• Encourage locals to make videos to post to YouTube to generate support for our cause
• Put a draft letter and the key contacts at GTCC on www.elandsonline.info so people can easily lobby GTCC
• Encourage locals to register all accidents that occur on the road - Greg to provide contact details of who to report the accident to and this information will be posted to www.elandsonline.info

4. Engage the support of Tourists

• Ask them to sign the petition
• Give them an extra piece of paper that encourages them to also write to the Council or to post comments to our website.

UPDATE FROM TD8 ACTION GROUP - 28th November 2011

Below is the update provided by the TD8 Action Group at the Elands Community Lunch and Meeting on Sunday 27th November.

The state of the Upper Bulga Road was a key topic of discussion at the meeting and all in attendance agreed that they wanted the road fixed. While a few ideas were discussed, it was suggested that it would be best to have a meeting to specifically discuss the road. It was agreed that this meeting would take place at 7.30pm on Wednesday 7th December at the Bulga Soldiers Memorial Hall and all are welcome. At this meeting TD8 action group will present a more detailed overview of their recent activities and possible ways for securing the support needed to address the immediate and long term needs of the upper Bulga Road.

STATUS OF THE MARLEE AND DUFFS BRIDGES
The design of the new Marlee and Duffs bridges is now underway. GTCC originally attended to build the Duffs bridge on a new alignment but as some potential aboriginal heritage artefacts were found in the proposed area, it is now most likely that the replacement Duffs bridge will be built on the existing alignment. It is likely that the pre-tender meetings will not take place until January / February 2012. It is the intention of GTCC officers to table a further report to Council regarding the bridges at the December 2011 meeting.

The impact of Duffs bridge now being built on the existing alignment is that this bridge will also need to be shut down for a period of 7 – 10 days at some point during construction, but that is a long way off at this stage and GTCC will be providing regular updates on this to the community.

A 400 tonne crane is required to replace the bridges and a crane of this size will be shipped to the site in pieces and then assembled (assembly alone will take around 5 -6 days). The crane is so large that it is likely that GTCC will also be required to design and construct a concrete pad for it to be placed on.

GTCC received written confirmation earlier this week that the $2.5 million as committed by the State Government will be available to Council in the 2012-2013 financial year.

UPPER BULGA ROAD
GTCC will shortly receive approximately $80,000 from the RTA as part of the natural disaster funding so they can undertake more extensive geotechnical investigations into the slips that took place in June 2011. The RTA are continuing to assess GTCC’s damage claim and the Council hope they will know the RTA’s position on the overall funding claim in the next month or so.

GTCC advised TD8 that the RTA will most probably not provide any funding to Council until November / December 2012 and even if they do provide some level of funding to GTCC later this year, there is no guarantee that they will receive the full amount of the estimate provided to them. GTCC also advised TD8 that it should be clearly noted that the RTA will only fund Council in order to bring the road up to the pre-event condition – they do not provide funding for bringing the road up to a higher standard than it was prior to the storm event. To do this, additional funding would be required by Council.

In relation to the Federal funding of $12.7 million for roads and bridges, GTCC has lodged a funding application however Bulga Road is not included in the works program should GTCC be successful in their funding request.

OPTIONS TD8 HAS BEEN EXPLORING TO SEEK A SAFE & WELL-MAINTAINED ROAD
“Road Maintenance” Volunteers
This idea is modelled on the Rural Fire Service and has been raised by TD8 with GTCC. Council have agreed to discuss it with the Hon. Jennifer Gardiner however as something like this would require the introduction of legislation, it is not anticipated such a service would be created quickly.

Return of Bulga Road to a regional road
The return of Bulga Road to a regional road would provide access to State funding. Over the last two years, TD8 has supplied a reclassification submission to two Roads Ministers and discussed it on a number of occasions with our local member, the Hon. Andrew Stoner. To date, our request has been declined. We recently raised this issue with GTCC and they have agreed to discuss the possibility of a join request for reclassification with Port Macquarie Hastings Council. Following the local launch of the Legendary Pacific Coast program, material regarding the request for reclassification has again been supplied to the Road Minister’s office.

Access to special funding
Given TD8 is repeatedly told by GTCC that they don’t have the funds required to maintain the roads within the Local Government Area, we have asked GTCC if there are any other funding avenues they can access. GTCC has advised TD8 that when the details of the NSW Infrastructure Fund are available, they will enquire if this Fund may provide any additional funding that could be used for roads.

TD8 UPDATE AT ELANDS MEETING 27TH NOV 2011

On Sunday 27th November, TD8 Action Group (along with other local groups) will give an update at a community get together at the Elands Health Centre.

This update will include the latest information from Greater Taree City Council regarding the status of the Marlee and Duffs Bridges, the disaster relief funding and any other issues relevant to the state of the Upper Bulga Road. We will also provide an update on our recent contact with NSW Ministers and other State bodies.

If you can’t join us on the day, the update will be available on this website on Monday 28th November.

We hope you can join us on the 27th November. If you have any questions in the meantime, please email us.

Bridges and Roads Update

There are still no new bridges as we approach the two-year anniversary of the infamous 2-tonne limit at Marlee, but they are still on Greater Taree City Council's horizon. Certainly the raising of that limit to 8 tonnes has made this waiting game at least tolerable, so there are small achievements to be thankful for.

Another positive is the securing of $2.5 million in State contribution to the bridges, after a full year of intensively lobbying our MP Andrew Stoner prior to the election. We are hopeful that this contribution may be raised to $3 - or even $3.5 - million though not in this financial year. This would make the State contribution 50%, as originally promised, because Council's estimate has gone up from $5 million to $7 million following the first tender process which failed in March this year. The new design tender has just been advertised, the construction tender is planned for April 2012, so there won't be any work on site till around the middle of next year.

Council is planning for two new concrete two-lane bridges, Duffs being on a new road approach, and Marlee using the existing road. This means that Marlee Bridge will have to be completely closed for a period while the old bridge is being demolished and the new one constructed. However, Council is anticipating this closure to be only for 7 to 10 days!

Further up Bulga Rd, extensive damage resulted from the flooding rains in June, with numerous landslip sites including a major one near Elands, which will all cost an estimated $2.8 million to repair. We have, only this morning, spoken about the state of the roads around Ellenborough Falls on ABC Mid North Coast radio, followed by Wendy Machin, president of the NRMA, who is visiting Wingham today and planning to take the Tourist Drive 8 route herself to Wauchope tomorrow morning. We have been in contact with Ms Machin and her Regional Policy Specialist in recent weeks and hope to speak to them this afternoon. Their stated aim for this north coast trip is to start looking more at the back roads.

We have also lodged a submission with NSW Roads Minister, Duncan Gay, requesting that the Tourist Drive 8 route be reclassified to Regional Road status, thereby ensuring that there will be annual State assistance dedicated to this roadwork on these roads. Bulga Rd was a Regional Road when the tourist route was first designated, but was declassified in 1996 leaving Council solely responsible for the road maintenance costs. Andrew Stoner continues to support this endeavour and meet with us on a regular basis. Council has also assured us they are working towards the same end in their dealings with the Roads Minister.

We have been informed by Council's Tourism Coordinator that from November this year, $5 million will be spent on RTA signage to direct tourists to the top ten 'must see' attractions between Sydney and Brisbane. Ellenborough Falls is one of these ten. We are asking the Minister to commit to reclassification before the inevitable increase in tourist traffic begins. Our main reason is road safety, so we are focusing on increasing road width in the narrow spots, safety barriers, pruning of vegetation, and maintaining good surface conditions through resheeting and regular grading.

As you can see, although nothing appears to be happening on the ground, we are continuing to lobby and there is some progress, slow though it may be. As always, we welcome your thoughts, comments and any offers to get involved!

BULGA ROAD RECTIFICATION WORKS COMPLETE - 4th April 2011

We are pleased to finally receive confirmation from GTCC that the Bulga Road rectification works are complete. Whilst there is a defects liability period in place, we expect/hope that the works will provide the much needed stability the road deserves.

Council has also confirmed that ongoing maintenance to the road will continue, as per other like maintenance within the valley.

Thanks to all for their feedback and patience whilst the works were undertaken.

BULGA ROAD REMEDIATION WORKS & BRIDGES UPDATE - JANUARY 2011

Representatives of TD8 met with GTCC, Coffey Projects and CivilTeam (works contractor) on Wednesday 19th January 2011.

GTCC has provided minutes of the meeting and as such amendments have been made to the previous blog update. In summary:

The Bulga Road Remediation Works

Commencement of works

Physical work will commence Monday 31st January 2011
You may start seeing equipment and material on location prior to works commencing.

Duration of works

The road will be closed from 9.00 am to 3.30 pm Monday to Saturday (most Saturdays however this will be arranged the week before). Sunday will be a special case if emergencies arise (need to apply and seek advance approval).

Detour signage will be arranged next week by Council and will be placed at:

- Installed at Colling Road in the Port Macquarie Shire area
- Colling Road and Swans Road.

TD8 requested signage at the Wingham Bridge turn off to Elands (so traffic may take the alternative route prior to travel towards Elands). GTCC will consult with its Variable Message Board supplier to see if it may be possible to change the wording at the start and end of each shift to advise of the road status.

If the detour signage is not erected or if the detour signage at Wingham Bridge states otherwise, the road will be available for use. At this stage works contractor (CivilTeam) cannot be specific as to when this may occur during the course of the project.

Works should take 8 weeks, with completion earmarked for 31st March 2011. It is hoped that works will be completed prior to school holidays. This of course is dependent upon weather.

There is no opportunity to provide a 1/2 day access once a week during the works, primarily due to budget constraints and in turn project timetable extension.

Works

Works consist of only remediation/rectification to those areas affected by the February 2008 rain. The disaster relief funding provided by the RTA will only cater for 'like for like' rectification and does not include any additional improvements to the Bulga Road. There are four site locations.

Two of the bigger areas will be road reconstruction. Site Four - lowest on the mountain - the carriageway will be excavated into the hillside so the road will be widened. Site two (next slip uphill) will be widened by constructing a retaining wall on the fill side of the road. This will result in these areas of the road being two lanes wide (approx. 5 metres).

No additional safety barriers/guards or signage, etc will be provided as it has not been allowed for within the RTA funding.

Emergency Services & Mailman

GTCC advised that they will be advising the Emergency Services of the project and who to contact. GTCC also has confirmed that members of the community should not advise emergency services of the status of road closures.

Please note that the above comments are as per GTCC advice and are not the opinions or advice from TD8. If you have any queries or wish to seek clarification on this matter please direct them to GTCC.

GTCC and its contractors will be making contact with the Mailman to discuss his day to day activities and timetable in order to ensure that the mail is delivered.

Comboyne Road and Colling Road

TD8 highlighted the poor state of roads within the Hasting Shire, given that these roads will be used as the alternate route.

GTCC has now confirmed that Port Macquarie/Hasting Council will 'pull out all stops to grade their section of Colling Road prior to 31st January 2011. Additionally, they undertook to regularly inspect its condition during the contract period'. Should the road deteriorate during works GTCC will plan road maintenance upon advice.

Information Centres - Port Macquarie/Taree

GTCC has advised in a separate email that they will be notifying the relevant information centres of the impending works and project timetable.

Ongoing Communication

Coffey Projects will be providing regular updates to GTCC. who in turn committed to provide regular updates to the community during the construction phase. Unless there is a major project issue at which time GTCC will communicate via its normal channels.

MARLEE & DUFFS BRIDGES

GTCC has signed permits to enter for properties from relevant parties giving GTCC authorisation to enter the properties during the bridge work. During, or most likely following, the bridge works, negotiations will take place will affected land owners regarding acquisitions.

Tenders for the works close on 17th February 2011. GTCC will take 2-3 weeks to access the tenders and thereafter, a report will be presented to the March Council Meeting.

TD8 and GTCC will meet thereafter to discus the outcome of the tender process.


TD8 will maintain communication with the community as and when meetings or other related information comes to hand.

Meantime, we suggest that if you have any particular queries outside of the above provided you should contact GTCC direct. Duncan Clarke is the GTCC representative for both projects.