Cr Alex Christian, who previously lived in Orange, said he travelled the road with a patient and medical workers in an ambulance last week, and that the road – as the main route from the Mitchell Highway to Orange hospital – should be immediately repaired.

“I couldn’t believe what I was feeling, the minute you turn onto Dairy Creek Road the conditions are awful,” he said.

“It was horrible, the patient certainly made comment, we were getting thrown around.

“I didn’t know if I was in a bumper car or an ambulance. It’s not a stone-throwing exercise, but it’s a crucial sort of artery now. To get to the hospital you have to go over that landmine.”

Dairy Creek Road is planned to become part of the Southern Feeder Road.

Orange City Council spokesman Nick Redmond said the road would be monitored and sections might be considered for re-surfacing.

“It’s expected Dairy Creek Road will get more traffic as the other stages of the Southern Feeder Road are completed. In the meantime it does take traffic from the Mitchell Highway to the Leewood industrial estate,” he said.

“Because it will be a stage of the Southern Feeder Road project, it will be a road that can attract funding from other tiers of government. 

“Dairy Creek Road is one of the stages of the broader Southern Feeder project that the council has submitted funding applications for.

Cr Christian suggested one reason why comment on road’s condition had been muted could be because Orange residents don’t frequently use it.

“I can’t believe there hasn’t been some sort of outcry over this road,” he said.

“Maybe because it mainly affects people who are sick or injured, the people trying to assist the sick and injured and visitors to the city – who cares?

“If this situation was in Bathurst I’d be that ashamed. I’d demand action from all and sundry to get this road resurfaced immediately.”