Full steam ahead for road grading

VIDEO LINK - click here to see a clip of one of our graders in action.

Up to seven graders are currently working across Ararat Rural City with more than 50 roads graded in the last month thanks to ideal weather conditions and soaking rains.

CEO Dr Tim Harrison said it was fantastic the region had received decent rainfall recently as it meant the Council could get cracking on its grading program.

Dr Harrison said many of the municipality’s gravel roads are in need of grading and using seven graders – five council-owned and two contract – enabled Council staff to make more efficient use of their time.

“Our graders are spread right across the municipality to ensure the best coverage possible,” he said.

“The excellent soaking rains we’ve had recently have allowed us to grade the roads well and the ground moisture also ensures the newly graded road stays in good condition for longer with less corrugations.”

Dr Harrison said Council’s grading program is determined via an assessment process that considers factors such as traffic volumes, type of use (for instance, bus route) and locations serviced to rank gravel roads in order of their need to be remediated.

He said Council could not grade much over summer and during drier months as it is very inefficient, and used many thousands of litres of water if the grading was to succeed.

“We thank the community for their patience during the period of longer than expected dry conditions over the warmer months.”

The current grading program will continue indefinitely until moisture levels drop below optimum levels.

Image above: a grader working on Warrayatkin Road outside Ararat this week.