Reforming road maintenance with new $8 million contract

Reforming road maintenance with new $8 million contract

Published on 27 February 2020

Council has awarded a new Road Maintenance Contract to deliver better roads for Baw Baw over the next five years.

Valued at over $8 million per annum, the new contract has been awarded to Downer EDI Works Pty Ltd and will come into effect on 1 July 2020 for the contract period of five years.

The new contract will change the way road maintenance activities are carried out across the Shire, by taking a more proactive approach to programming works, inspecting roads and scheduling repairs. A higher level of service will provide greater presence of maintenance works across the wider road network thus improving road user experience.

Key improvements will include:

Faster repairs for issues such as potholes and road corrugations. Double the annual amount of unsealed road grading. Increased road shoulder grading for better water flow off the roads into roadside drains. More drains inspected and cleared. Monthly inspections for built up and high-traffic areas like shopping precincts.

The new contract reflects an $2.3 million increased annual investment in road maintenance. The new contract also includes $1.2 million of other road maintenance works previously not included in past contracts.

The new contract has various service areas with a key focus on:

Programmed maintenance: Road grading, shoulder grading, open drain cleaning, sealed road surface repairs, tree trimming, and roadside grass mowing. Reactive maintenance: Road repairs to sealed and unsealed roads, drainage, fallen trees, signs, afterhours and emergency response. Network management: Customer service and liaison, cyclic and reactive inspections, works scheduling and planning. Operations management: Management of quality, environmental and safety compliance.

The new service levels within the contract are the result of ongoing feedback Council receive and the 330 community responses to the August 2019 community road maintenance survey. For a full summary of survey results visit www.bawbawshire.vic.gov.au/RoadMaintenanceSurveyResults

Over coming weeks, Council will update the community on progress with the new contract and what the additional investment and service improvements will mean for the community.

Quotes attributable to Mayor Cr Danny Goss

“The community have told us that we need to increase our investment in roads maintenance, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. This contract is the biggest decision we have made as a Council to date, and our first opportunity to implement real change in road network maintenance – including more road grading, faster pothole repairs and clearing more drains than ever before.”

“Through many months of conversation and engagement, it was made clear that roads were the number one issue for our community. It’s our job as a Council to deliver what our ratepayers expect and deserve, and we’re proud to award a new contract that reflects the wishes and expectations of our community.”

“The new contract will commence in July and from that point, we will hit the ground running and move forward to deliver better roads for Baw Baw. It’s been a tremendous effort by a large group of people to get to this point, and I thank everyone involved.”