ALMOST all of Gloucester’s roads would be in a fair to extremely poor condition within 10 years if council fails to improve its financial position.
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Speaking at a public meeting earlier this month, council’s manager of assets Norm Harwood said if rates continued to rise in line with the CPI (consumer price index) just 1.3 per cent of the shire’s roads would be in a good or average condition.
Council is currently seeking community support for an 18 per cent cumulative increase to rates over five years, generating an additional $36 million in income for the service provider.
Mr Harwood said, even with an 18 per cent special rates variation, almost half (47 per cent) of the region’s roads would still be in poor to very poor condition by the end of the decade.
Council recently undertook an extensive assessment of its transport network, analysing more than 900 segments of pavement on all roads across the shire.
At present 47.3 per cent of rural roads maintained by the shire are in a fair condition, according to council, while 41.2 per cent are in a good condition.
In town 51.7 per cent of roads are in fair condition while 25.8 per cent are considered to be in good shape.
The shire’s bridges and causeways are in much better condition according to council’s analysis, with 83.9 per cent in good condition and just 10 per cent considered to be in bad shape.
Mr Harwood said council is responsible for more than 10,000 individual assets across the shire, including more than 770km of road.
He said the replacement value for council’s transport assets would be $414.8 million or $83,000 for each of the 5000 residents that call the Gloucester Shire home.