Armidale Regional Council has completed major road improvements

In part its thanks to a grant from the NSW Government after torrential rain and flooding in 2022 prompted a scourge of potholes on the region's roads.

The Council's Transport Department has smoothed the way for the region's drivers by finalising the Pothole Repair Grant works under the $635,000 provided from the State Government's $500 million package to repair road damage.

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The funding grant from Transport NSW, called Fixing Local Roads Pothole Repair Round, was announced earlier in the year and was designed to support emergency and heavy patching of the pothole damage to roads.

It followed the declaration of a Statewide Roads Emergency by Local Government NSW (LGNSW) late last year, in the wake of more than 220 natural disasters declared across NSW during 2022.

ARC has completed the following road improvements under the funding.

3403 potholes repaired on urban roads.

441 potholes repaired on regional roads.

6289 potholes repaired on rural roads.

"Keeping our community safe on our roads is a high priority for us at Council," Mayor Sam Coupland said.

"Heavy rain episodes in the past have caused significant damage to our roads including causing large amounts of potholes.

"This funding has helped us use additional resources to raise the condition profile of the sealed road network in the Armidale region, making our roads safer and better to drive on."

Mayor Coupland said Council would continue to monitor and repair potholes under general internal funding.

Roads across the New England North West received an overall poor rating by The Australian Roads Assessment Program (AusRAP) in November 2023, revealing that only 0.1 percent of the 2,843 kilometers in the region had received a 5-star rating.

AusRAP, an internationally recognised road safety rating assessment system that operates in more than 100 countries, awards road star ratings based on their level of safety.

The National Farmers Federation welcomed the November 22 announcement that the Federal Government will effectively double the roads to recovery funding program, providing a much-needed shot in the arm for the state's dilapidated regional roads.

Meanwhile, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Katherine King said the government would gradually increase funding for the Roads to Recovery program from $500 million to a $1 billion program.

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