LOW subsoil moisture and extra traffic have taken their toll on dirt roads in Far West NSW, with some residents resorting to driving in table drains for a smoother ride.
Pastoralists' Association of West Darling president Lachlan Gall said many roads north of Broken Hill, NSW, were “crumbling” due to the drought, while the lack of water availability was also making it difficult to effect repairs.
To try and mitigate the problem, locals are hoping some of the Drought Communities Program funding allocated to the Unincorporated Area – an area in Far West NSW without a designated council – could be used in the drilling of road bores.
Mr Gall said the poor roads were a direct consequence of the continuing drought.
“Dirt roads are crumbling because they are bone dry,” he said.
“We also have a large number of truck movement on the road as many pastoralists in far west NSW are handfeeding their core breeding stock at unprecedented levels.
“At the same time we’ve also had massive destocking with any livestock that aren’t core breeders being trucked out.”
Mr Gall said the bad state of the roads was adding extra costs along the chain with trucks forced to travel at average speeds of 40 kilometres an hour, or even as low as 10km/hr in places, and some suffering a series of blown tyres due to corrugation.
“On our road it is so rough in the middle, everyone is out in the table drains since it’s smoother than the actual road,” he said.
He said it had gotten so bad, some trucking companies were refusing to go onto unsealed roads while others were raising their rates or contemplating switching to an hourly rate, rather than charging by the kilometre.
Mr Gall had spoken with the Roads and Maritime Services about getting roads repaired but they had been hampered by the dry also.
“The normal procedure is RMS would go to a landholder to source water so the roads can be repaired for the benefit of all road users but at the moment there is just no water in our dams,” he said.
Mr Gall said there was a handful of road bores in areas but these were not always close to where the repairs were needed and trucking water was extra pressure on already damaged roads.
Local MP Mark Coulton said he was in support of this “excellent” idea to use the funds.
On our road it is so rough in the middle, everyone is out in the table drains since it’s smoother than the actual road.
- LACHLAN GALL
“It’s not just during the drought, this will have a long-term effect,” he said.
He expected there would be news of the results out early in the new year.
“The idea is to have (funds) out pretty quickly,” he said.
An RMS spokesperson said it was facing challenges in securing water supply for repairs as a result of the ongoing drought.
“RMS has 15 bores at locations in the Unincorporated Area that are used for road maintenance and reconstruction,” they said.
The spokesperson said there were plans to construct 14 new bores and dams, including four new bores this financial year.
Elizabeth Anderson
Editor of Stock Journal.
Editor of Stock Journal.
