Victoria - Jul 2023 - Councils News

Wodonga Council raised issues including design standards, road constructions and materials, rate capping and the impacts of climate change at the parliamentary inquiry in to regional roads held in Wodonga this week.Wodonga Council CEO Matthew Hyde said the regional location of the inquiry was a great opportunity to present to the federal representatives on one of the council’s key advocacy priorities.“Roads are one of the council’s most significant assets and our community rightly have an expectation that our city’s roads will be safe and well-maintained,” he said.“However, with rising costs and an increase in damage caused by significant rain events, councils are faced with a widening gap between what needs to be done and what we can afford.”The council provided a submission in support of recommendations made by the Goulburn Murray Climate Alliance (GMCA), of which the council is a member.The submission included calls to: Support neighbouring regional councils to purchase and utilise shared innovative and modern predictive road maintenance technologies; Support a whole-of-industry shift to use of recycled road-making materials with the formal creation of regional skills-based networks to progress the national road infrastructure circular economy; and,  Support all councils to incorporate asset vulnerability assessments as business as usual practice based on long-term climate change forecasts and the resulting financial impacts on local government assets.  Director Infrastructure Leon Schultz, who presented to the inquiry, said while the council added to the call for increased road funding, it also pushed for more research into alternative road construction and materials. “The panel seemed genuinely interested in the issues being raised by all the councils that joined at the inquiry,” Mr Schultz said.“We spoke about issues with the design standards for construction, particularly for road pavement and stormwater systems, as well as the need for a consolidated set of design standards that can be tailored to individual areas. “The recent rain events have demonstrated a perceived inadequacy with pipe systems and a need for better collaboration with local developers. “We need road networks that are constructed to suit the effects of climate change.”The joint management of the road network were also raised with panel.“Here in Wodonga we face the complexity of managing about 79 per cent of the road network while the rest is managed and maintained by the state but we know for our community a road is just a road,” Mr Schultz said.“We raised with the panel the potential of closer collaboration with the state-based transport departments to improve maintenance response times.”The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport is holding the inquiry into the implications of severe weather events on the national regional, rural, and remote road network.Member for Indi Dr Helen Haines is one of the 10 members of the committee.The inquiry is looking at road engineering and construction standards to strengthen road resiliency against natural disasters, including the critical role of climate change trends and data to inform infrastructure standards.

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