Gunnedah Kelvin Road, Orange Grove Road bridge to receive upgrades through federal government funds

Gunnedah Shire Council has received $2 million to help in the sealing of Kelvin Road through round seven of the federal government's Heavy Vehicle Program, and Orange Grove Road bridge will receive a facelift through $626,175 from the government's Bridges Renewal Program.

The $2 million will be combined with $4 million in state funding, which was announced in June this year, to seal the remaining 11.6km of the dirt part of Kelvin Road.

Parkes MP Mark Coulton said Kelvin Road was of "critical importance", as it connected Gunnedah to Rangari Road.

"Kelvin Road is heavy utilised by local and regional freight carriers moving to-and-from agricultural hubs in the area including the Gunnedah Saleyards," Mr Coulton said.

"I'm thrilled we have been able to secure funding to upgrade this important road.

"This is about creating safer journeys for everyone using the Kelvin Road, and looking after the vital industries which will drive our economic recovery on the other side of COVID-19."

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Work is set to begin on this project in July 2021.

"We're actually doing the engineering design work now," Cr Chaffey said.

"A matter of months ago we saw a significant announcement from the state government for Kelvin Road and [the] announcement of $2 million from the commonwealth means the three tiers of government are coming up with a solution to be able to remove barriers for our transport industry and make our roads safer for the community."

Meanwhile, the Orange Grove Road bridge will be replaced with the $626,175 in funding. It's located about 30km along the road from the Kelvin Road turn-off.

A 20-tonne load limit was placed on the bridge earlier this year. This was after a report to the council noted a structural inspection had found the bridge was in poor condition due to its age, but remained safe for lighter vehicles.

"We had to put a load restriction on that just a matter of months ago, and it's not the best when it comes to connectivity in our trucking industry, and transporting goods and services in and out," Cr Chaffey said.

"It's good to see the commonwealth come on board with that announcement."

Cr Chaffey said the council had applied for extra funding for the bridge through the state government's Fixing Country Bridges program, but they were yet to hear back at this stage.

"We have a live application with the state government for a similar amount of money so we're waiting to see when that is successful," he said.

"If that's successful it'll be another great thing for Gunnedah with the three tiers of government funding an infrastructure project."