Two-hundred extra pairs of hands are now hard at work in the State’s west to support crews repairing and rebuilding the flood-affected road network.
“The majority of the work is taking place in the Forbes, Orange, Dubbo, Parkes, Cowra, Cabonne, Bathurst and Blayney LGAs – with priority given to those areas of the road network most impacted and in need of urgent repairs and rebuilding work.”
Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Sam Farraway visited crews working in Molong last week to inspect the work being carried out.
“While the Newell and other state roads have been several centimetres under water, diversions have been created on local and regional roads to allow trucks transporting essential goods to reach their destinations to stock supermarkets and cart grain during harvest,” said Mr Farraway.
Minister for Western NSW and Member for the Dubbo Electorate Dugald Saunders said repairing the Newell Highway south of Forbes is a massive and ongoing project.
“The NSW Government is committing all of the resources we need to get the job done as quickly as we can,” Mr Saunders said.
Transport for NSW is also mobilising experts across the central west to inspect about 80 state-managed bridges for signs of damage from flooding. About half of the bridges have been inspected so far, including 11 of 20 in Cabonne, five of 10 in Forbes, and two of five in Parkes.
All 11 State-managed bridges in the Cowra LGA and seven in Weddin have also been inspected, and all the bridges inspected so far have been cleared of any major flood damage.