Mayor's Column

If you’re driving around parts of the Whitsundays over the next few weeks, there’s a fair chance you’ll come across our road crews as we roll into the latest stage of Council’s annual road resealing program.

From late August, weather permitting, crews will be working on Strathdickie Road, Dingo Beach Road and several roads around Mount Coolon. It’s worth putting the size of the job into perspective.

Whitsunday Regional Council maintains around 1,776 kilometres of roads, comprising 616 kilometres sealed and another 1,160 kilometres unsealed.

That’s a significant road network stretching from our coastal communities through to some remote parts of our region, and keeping it safe and maintained is one of the Council's biggest responsibilities.

It’s also about spending money at the right time. Road resealing might not be the most glamorous Council project, but it is one of the smartest investments we can make in looking after the assets our community already owns.

Put simply, resealing protects the road surface, keeps water out of the pavement underneath and extends the life of the road. Doing that work at the right time is considerably cheaper than allowing a road to deteriorate to the point where major reconstruction is required.

That’s also why you might sometimes see us resealing a road that still looks pretty good, while another road nearby appears to be in worse condition. Once the pavement underneath starts to fail, simply putting another seal over the top won’t fix the problem. That road will generally need more substantial rehabilitation before it can be resealed.

So the aim is to reseal roads before they reach that point wherever we can which extends their life and delivers the best value from every dollar we spend on the network.

At the same time, we're not standing still.

Major projects such as the Hamilton Plains flood immunity upgrade are improving key parts of our network as the Whitsundays continues to grow.

So there are really two jobs happening at once – looking after the extensive road network we already have while progressively building a safer, stronger and more resilient network for the future.

Of course, roadworks inevitably mean some inconvenience. There will be single-lane closures, reduced speed limits and traffic control while these works are underway, so please allow a little extra time and follow the directions of our traffic controllers. You may also notice line marking doesn’t happen immediately after resealing. That's deliberate. The new surface needs time to settle and cure before permanent line marking goes down.

I know getting stuck at a stop/go sign can test the patience – particularly when you somehow seem to get the “stop” side every time. But a few minutes of inconvenience now helps us get more life out of roads our community relies on every day.

Thanks for your patience and, most importantly, please slow down around our crews while they get the job done.

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