LOBBYING has begun for government funds to fix a 10 kilometre stretch of Rockvale Road after a spate of near-fatal accidents.
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Armidale Dumaresq strategic projects director David Steller has a week to apply for funding under the state government’s $37.4 million Fixing Country Roads program.
He is also mulling other ways of funding an upgrade to the road and has sought a fresh daily tally of vehicles using Rockvale Road.
“It could be we upgrade the road in 500-metre sections,” Mr Steller said.
Councillor Margaret O’Connor took residents’ concerns regarding Rockvale Road to Mr Steller and has also raised the matter with Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall.
Residents say there has been a serious deterioration of the Council-owned road.
It is used by B-doubles to accessfarms. There has been a rapid rise in the number of vehicles using the road each day as rural properties switch to organic fertiliser. Road safety auditor Ben Rossiter says the situation is critical.
“Farmers along Rockvale Road are switching from super-phosphates to manure, which means 10 times more heavy trucks use the road to deliver the compost,” Mr Rossiter said.
Stretches of the road are inherently dangerous because of its tight curves, downhill grade and alignment.
Sheep and cattle producer Rob McClenaghan said he’d been called to the scene of three serious accidents along the road in the past year.
Cars had rolled and drivers left seriously injured, he said.
“One driver was a medical student who hit a rock bar and rolled his car.
“He managed to drag himself from the wreckage and walk to my home, where I called an ambulance. He was lucky he wasn’t killed.”
Overhanging tree branches make driving even more hazardous.
Mr McClenaghan said there were also several wooden bridges which were “falling to pieces” and had exposed spikes, causing numerous burst tyres.
The gravel patch is graded every year, however, potholes and rock bars are never fully repaired.