A cheeky vandal's unauthorised edit to a council project sign has left users of Rangari Road in a tiff, after leading them to believe an upgrade of the road had been delayed by a year.
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A project sign - which initially advertised a planned completion date for the $12 million project in "late 2022" - was later edited to read "late 2023".
A spokesperson for Tamworth Regional Council confirmed the amendment wasn't an official one, and was "an act of vandalism".
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"While Council appreciates that this was probably a community member poking fun, we strongly discourage this sort of antisocial behaviour as it can create real confusion amongst the local community," he said.
The project is still on schedule, the spokesperson said.
The design for the road is complete, and a competitive tender for the works will soon be advertised.
Tamworth mayor Russell Webb conceded the project may be held up somewhat by potential cost overruns and the sheer amount of construction work underway at the moment, but it would be nowhere near twelve months.
He said the vandal, was "silly".
"People do those sorts of things, we can't control that," he said.
"All it's done is create some angst within the community and it's unwarranted."
Gunnedah mayor Jamie Chaffey said his shire's commitment and the state government's commitment hadn't changed to the project.
"It's a significant upgraded piece of road infrastructure that has been in the planning for some time," he said.
"I too, like the rest of the users of Rangari Road look forward to the completion of the project."
Major works are expected to kick off in May, with construction to be completed by late 2022, or early 2023 at the latest.
The road, which connects Manilla to Boggabri, is currently one of the state's shonkiest, and has been the site of numerous accidents over the years. It stretches through the Tamworth, Gunnedah and Narrabri local government areas.
The state government has fully funded the $12 million upgrade, but the project will be carried out by the Tamworth and Gunnedah councils.
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Andrew Messenger
Politics, environment and energy journalist at the Northern Daily Leader. I also write about health, bushfires and occasionally music. I'm a Brisbane boy by way of Charleville and Hobart who now lives in in beautiful New England. Get me at andrew.messenger@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Politics, environment and energy journalist at the Northern Daily Leader. I also write about health, bushfires and occasionally music. I'm a Brisbane boy by way of Charleville and Hobart who now lives in in beautiful New England. Get me at andrew.messenger@austcommunitymedia.com.au
