Large dirt mounds covered with pine bark have been built on the northern and southern side of the road at the back of Coombes Place and Bilton Place, while the installation of a two-metre high wooden fence along the ridge of the mounts will start early next week.

However, work on the two- lane distributor road has come to a halt until Orange City Council resolves issues over the handling of crystalised asbestos in blue metal piled in the centre of the two-lane distributor road.

Orange City Council's supervisor of the project, works manager Michael Thorpe, said 20 council staff had been trained in the handling of the asbestos material at Orange TAFE.

"We are now just waiting on the formal documentation of that accreditation before we start moving the blue metal and proceed with the roadworks," he said.

Mr Thorpe said the heavy downpour earlier in the week had delayed erection of the 2.4 metre double paling fencing which would be used to reduce noise.

"The noise abatement mounds and fence are similar to the one built near Wellington, and with the double palings and no gaps in the fencing it should prove to be very effective," he said.

North Orange resident James Grant, who was involved in a push to stop the distributor road being build so close to residential areas in north Orange, said he had recently talked on site with Mayor John Davis and council personnel involved in the project.

"While I think the dust and noise while the road is being built is going to be horrendous, I think what's happening with the noise abatement procedures is as good as council can do.

"The only other measure left now to reduce the noise from the road is for people to double-glaze their windows," he said.

Mr Grant said he had no regrets about the pressure bought to bear on council by residents in the area who had objected to the distributor road.

"We have always said we wanted to get the trucks out of Summer Street but feel this is a poor design for this type of residential area."

However, Mr Grant conceded when he built in the area eight years ago he could not have envisaged the level of development that would take place to the north of Orange.

Mr Grant said when the distributor was fully operational, residents would closely monitor noise levels from traffic using the road.

"No-one really quite knows the impact of what's going to happen up here," he said.

When the buffer fencing is installed, council will plant native trees and shrubs all over the noise abatement mounds as an extra measure for camouflage and noise reduction.