Council on the Road to Improving Unsealed Upgrades

Cassowary Coast residents wanting to see unsealed roads upgraded to bitumen will benefit from a new policy that ensures the most urgent and impactful roads are put to the top of the list when upgrades are being scheduled.

Councillor for Infrastructure Services Nicholas Pervan said the policy will assess each road’s need for upgrades across six criteria.

“Highest on our priorities is ensuring a return on investment for our ratepayers,” Cr Pervan said.

“Expected safety improvements and the amount of traffic it carries will then be considered, followed by how the environment would benefit and how the section connects with other sealed roads.”

The newly adopted Prioritisation of Council Road Upgrades Policy was endorsed at this month’s Local Government meeting alongside an update of Council’s Unsealed Roads Improvement Plan.

“In 2022 we put a plan in place to improve our unsealed roads and I was pleased to see that more than half of the actions have been completed to date,” Cr Pervan said.

“This includes a move toward heavy grading techniques to improve road performance, the purchase of a new water truck to increase productivity and a separate crew for high priority repairs such as potholes,” Cr. Pervan said.

“The team is also half-way through a further seven actions to deliver an improved unsealed road network for the Cassowary Coast community by June 2025.”

Cassowary Coast Regional Council is responsible for maintaining over 514 kilometres of unsealed roads and has annual budgets of approximately $1.8 million dedicated to unsealed road re-sheeting and $1.6 million on maintenance grading. 

Councillor Pervan said that high rainfall, including cyclone and flooding events, in the Cassowary Coast coupled with a small population spread across the vast region makes it very difficult to manage the scale of improvements that some residents wish to see.

“Council has finite funds, and we need to make sure the money we invest in roads goes to those which provide the most benefit for the community.

“At this month’s Council meeting, we approved more than $25 million worth of contracts for repairs to local roads that were damaged by Tropical Cyclone Jasper and the flooding associated with the event.  

“This funding, from the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), will be vital to ensure the 2,500 sites on our roads that were damaged during the Cyclone event, will be brought back up to standard without ratepayers having to cover these costs. 

“DRFA is a cost-sharing arrangement between the Commonwealth and the Queensland Government managed by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) and will provide for 10 years’ worth of gravel to the Cassowary Coast through the TC Jasper recovery program,” said Cr. Pervan.

“Alongside these works, Council will continue its own program, ensuring we deliver safe roads for our community through a process that’s transparent and fair.”

Alongside Council’s factsheets on its website is an unsealed road report where community can see a weekly report on road grading progress, as well as a portal to report damage at cassowarycoast.qld.gov.au/unsealedroads.  

To read Council’s Unsealed Road Improvement Plan go to cassowarycoast.qld.gov.au/downloads/file/4519/ccrc-unsealed-roads-improvement-plan

To read the newly adopted Prioritisation of Council Road Upgrades Policy go to cassowarycoast.qld.gov.au/downloads/file/4782/prioritisation-of-council-road-upgrades-policy.

Councillor Nicholas Pervan with Unsealed Team Members