Record-Setting Restoration of Rural Gravel Roads

Lismore City Council has commenced an historic effort to restore over 120km of unsealed gravel roads damaged by natural disasters. Over the next three months, Council will deploy six dedicated local crews to grade and repair the most severely affected areas.

This extensive project, one of the largest of its kind ever undertaken in Lismore’s rural areas, represents a multi-million-dollar investment into improving Lismore’s key transport corridors for safer and faster commute times.

Lismore City Council’s Chief Operating Officer, Brendan Logan, said rural roads are lifelines for many in our community, providing essential access for locals, visitors, emergency services and local businesses.

“This record-setting grading project demonstrates our commitment to restoring these vital routes to their optimal condition as quickly as possible,” he said.

“This blitz on over 120km of unsealed roads is a welcome investment for our teams who are responsible annually for maintaining 1,215km of sealed and unsealed roads across the local government area.”

The undertaking not only addresses the critical need for road restoration post flood, but also injects significant financial benefit into Lismore’s local economy with local contractors intentionally engaged to deliver the works.

"This initiative is more than just road repairs, it's an incredible ‘shop local’ initiative. By engaging local contractors, we're ensuring that the investment benefits our community directly, creating jobs and keeping this money in our community,” he said.

The project is expected to take approximately three months to complete, weather permitting, with the most severely damaged roads prioritised to be restored first.

The assessment process is continuing with the possibility that additional roads may be included in the scope of the recovery works.

To access the complete list of roads undergoing restoration and to stay updated on the progress of recovery efforts for roads and bridges, visit the Council’s dedicated Flood Recovery – Roads and Bridges Your Say page at yoursay.lismore.nsw.gov.au.

The funding for this project is granted by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) guidelines to reconstruct eligible assets to pre-disaster function.