All roads lead to somewhere

February 6, 2025

Everyone knows that the term "Three R's" when applied to councils means "Roads, Rates and Rubbish". Everyone also wants perfect roads and cheap rates but the rule for road repairs is the one that applies in many situations "Quick. Good. Cheap. Pick any two."

A lot of people demand the combination of quick and cheap, but this is rarely the best option the next time it rains or some heavy vehicles break up the surface. The really big issue for Oberon lately has been the restrictions on Jenolan Caves Road at Hampton, but this has been partially fixed (the road might be open, but it needs resurfacing).

That leaves the final kilometre of Lowes Mount Road outside the Borg factory, Oberon's own Sodwalls Road. And finally something is being done.

Lowes Mount Road

Work started in early January to fix the mess outside the Borg factory. It's an unfortunate fact of life that any road adjacent to a large manufacturing facility will carry heavy traffic, in both senses of the word "heavy", and this means that the road surface can soon become broken. Patching can only ever be a temporary fix, and anyone who has driven over the cobblestones of patches lately will be glad that something is being done. The hope is that the repair won't just be scraping up the broken tarmac and laying a thin layer back in its place but will include creating better foundations to avoid future problems, but we will just have to wait and see what the road looks and feels like in a few months time.

Action this day!

Baileys Lane

Not quite as noticeable to the majority of Oberon's residents, but certainly something very important to anyone who lives along this road.

The bridge on Baileys Lane across the Fish River was recently rebuilt but a problem has arisen since. Due to some surface compaction, the dirt road dropped a little below the concrete pavement of the bridge, leaving a small doorstep at each end of the concrete to be negotiated when approaching the bridge. While this could be driven over at low speed, at anything much over walking pace it caused a severe jolt to the car's suspension with possible damage both to tyres and steering components.

Then the Council s workers arrived and sealed the road. The only people not happy about this are those who sell tyres or wheel alignments.

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