One of Orange’s busiest roads is about to get a major upgrade with most of the work done at night to reduce the impact on businesses.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The William Street project will start on March 6 and is expected to take two to three weeks and will involve contractors digging up the roadway between March and Dalton streets.
The new road base will then have concrete hardeners added before it is given a 220-millimetre hot mix asphalt seal.
Orange City Council’s infrastructure chair Glenn Taylor said William Street has become one of Orange’s major roads and had been in need of an upgrade for some time.
“There will much more inconvenience than with usual roadworks because of the scale of this project and the location given there are many businesses on William Street,” Cr Taylor said.
“But once it is finished I’m sure Orange residents will be delighted with the result.
“While the bypass was being built William Street played an important role as a de facto bypass. It’s showing the wear and tear of that heavy traffic and this upgrade will make a major difference.”
During the first stage of the project, crews will work at night digging up sections of the road to a depth of about half a metre.
The road base will then be replaced at a better standard.
The road base upgrade is expected to take about six nights and will be completed in sections measuring about 110 metres and one lane at a time.
In the project’s second stage the hot mix asphalt will then be applied in three layers. The first and second layer will be 90mm thick and the last layer will be 40mm thick.
Cr Taylor said the three-layered hit mix asphalt would take about seven nights to complete and won’t be done until the final days of the project.
“Because William Street is such a busy road it has to remain open during every day of this upgrade project.
“Each night crews will be in there removing the base and replacing it with the better materials, doing one section at a time. Then at the end of each shift the road has to be brought up to a level that can be driven on each day,” Cr Taylor said.
“So, while the work continues, drivers will have to put up with driving on a dirt road but I can assure everyone that when this road is finished it will be of a very high quality.”
Cr Taylor said hot mix was expensive and would only be used in the traffic lanes.
