The economic drag on Orange ratepayers to pay for the maintenance of the Northern Distributor Road might finally be ending.
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An offer by the state government to take over significant council roads has been greeted by Orange City Council.
Council is proposing the state government take over maintenance of the NDR, the new Southern Feeder Road, Clergate Road, Cargo Road/Coronation Drive and Woodward Street.
We could take over Summer Street and they could take on the Northern Distributor.
- Cr Glenn Taylor
In its application the council will argue all should be re-classified because of the volume of traffic, particularly by trucks, on them.
Transport for NSW has announced a reclassification process for the state government to take over up to 15,000 kilometres of council roads around NSW.
An independent panel will assess the applications and make recommendations to the Transport minister next July.
Cr Glenn Taylor said he had been pushing for years for the government to take over the NDR maintenance.
He said council had spent about $6 million several years ago re-sealing the road with hot-mix to repair the surface.
"It has been the pseudo-highway for quite a number of years," he said.
"The ratepayers of this city shouldn't have to fork out for the state government's traffic.
"I believe this could be a contra deal, if this was looked on favourably by the state government we could take over Summer Street and they could take on the Northern Distributor, along with the Southern [Feeder Road]."
Cr Kevin Duffy said ratepayers had paid about $30 million for the construction and upkeep of the Northern Distributor.
Orange mayor Cr Reg Kidd said the government was spending large amounts on constructing bypasses in NSW and the time was right for it to take on the Northern Distributor.
"It would be a hell of lot cheaper for both federal and the state government to take on the maintenance of something that's already built [rather] than starting from ground zero," he said.
Cr Tony Mileto said council needed to improve its methods of fixing roads.
"It's like we're repairing quilts, we are putting repair on top of repair," he said.
"What I would like to see is when we do repairs they are significant repairs and we are not just patching up potholes all the time."
He said he accepted council had limited funds for road works but he said it was a cost on ratepayers.
Technical services director Ian Greenham said council had roadworks planned.
He said re-construction of Ploughmans Lane would start next week while works on Dalton and Prince streets would start in the "next couple of weeks."
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