Rainfall required for road grading program

1 April 2019 - Media release

The lack of rain and ongoing dry conditions has impacted Campaspe Shire Council’s road grading program.

Infrastructure Services General Manager Richard Conway said a severe lack of moisture in the ground due to the persistent dry weather has made it difficult to achieve consistent grading results.

“While the weather remains dry, grading of gravel roads is affected, and without moisture in the ground, the end result will not last,” Mr Conway said.

“Water tankers can and are used to assist in grading roads, however this is not universally effective as the subsurface has often dried so much the road can’t bind.”

“This being said, the grading program has not stopped completely. We are working to our Road Management Plan and grading is being prioritised on a safety basis.”

The community is encouraged to continue lodging requests for service and roads will continue to be assessed to determine whether grading is a safety priority or whether it can be put on the grading list for action once ground conditions improve.

Campaspe Shire has an unusually large gravel road network compared to other councils. Of the 4,000 kilometre road network, 1,000 is sealed, 2,000 is gravel, with the remainder being earth.

Whilst the first three months of 2019 have been particularly dry with only 25.4mm received to date. These few months added to a dry 2018, which had a lower than average rainfall, has had an accumulative effect on the gravel road network.

Council will continue to monitor the weather situation and schedule works when suitable.