Roads generally are the lifeblood of centres such as Orange, as the wider community accesses the services Orange offers. 

As such roads should always be the major priority of any council, not the warm, fuzzy feel-good additional cost shifting from the state government to a myriad of additional services. 

Following roads, water and sewerage come next.

Unfortunately in the case that Paul Knight has highlighted (“See for yourself, driver pleads”, CWD, Wednesday, July 22), it has been council’s own contractors, hauling fill from Coleman’s and Kingham’s quarry to the airport extension, that have played a major part in the deformation of  Forest Road.

Additional haulage from Shadforth quarry to Cadia (blue metal) also adds to the break-up of the shoulders of a road that was laid down before the advent of truck-dog combos and heavy haulage.

All of these local roads around the Spring district were formed with crushed rock from farmers’ paddocks back in the days of the mobile steam crusher which traversed the district. 

The dray wheels of the wagons used at that time to haul produce hay and grain and copper from Cadia needed heavy metal to stop bogging in winter, but over the years that base has been lost and so the road base now floats during wetter periods, and heavy haulage deforms it.

Orchard Road (Cabonne shire) is a case in point. Recently reformed in two stages, the first stage is already breaking up due to the metal base shifting (nothing to bind it together). Hopefully the later addition will sustain as it has binders in the base.

So what I am suggesting is road formation is a science, and practical application of that science should be adhered to  as transport becomes bigger /heavier and more plentiful.

Travelling around, one sees what works and what doesn’t - gravel roads need regular top-ups as the material is broken down, and black tops also need regular resurfacing to stop water penetrating and thus breaking up the wear surface. It’s not rocket science.

But it does require expenditure regularly. This should be offset by the trade that these arterial roads bring to a community such as Orange.

We have found  requests to Orange council staff for repairs to specific sections that need patching are generally attended to regularly when raised  - thank-you council.

However, don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. Build for the future, not the reverse, waiting for the future to then require upgrades.

Graham Brown, Orange ratepayer