Goulburn Mulwaree Council apologises for Oallen pothole fatality

Goulburn Mulwaree Council faces compensation claim over Oallen fatality

Inquest probes Oallen Ford Road work

Inquest begins into Oallen Ford fatality

Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s operations director Matthew O’Rourke wanted to make a statement before he began evidence at an inquest on Thursday.

“I offer my sincere apology for the circumstances that bring us here and extend my condolences to the family of James Hughes,” he said.

Mr O’Rourke hoped the inquiry would bring some closure and findings with which the family would be satisfied.

He was addressing an inquest into the death of 50-year-old Mr Hughes in a motorcycle crash on the approach to Oallen Ford bridge on October 4, 2015.

Deputy State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan presided at the Goulburn Courthouse inquiry.

Mr Hughes died after his Ducati bike hit a pothole on the northern approach’s southbound lane, just before the newly constructed bridge. He hit a guardrail and was thrown five metres off the bridge’s edge, police said.

Council knowledge of defects on the newly constructed road following the bridge’s opening on September 11, 2015 came in for close scrutiny at the inquest. So too did reporting systems for community complaints about the road’s quality before the fatal crash.

Several existing and former engineers and works staff told the inquest they were surprised with the road’s “rapid” break-up.

The council had appointed a contractor, Landteam to oversee the total Oallen Ford project before Mr O’Rourke’s appointment in December, 2014. It was his role to oversee Landteam but he said it meant “minimal involvement” because the project “by and large followed plans,” Mr O’Rourke said.

He said the first time he saw the potholes which Mr Hughes allegedly struck was after the accident when the council was preparing a document.

Under questioning by counsel assisting the coroner, Timothy O’Donnell, he rejected former council works manager Andrew Palmer’s evidence that Mr Palmer had shown him photos of potholes on the northern approach and road break-up on September 22, 2015.

Mr Palmer had told the inquest he received a September 22, 2015 email from works supervisor, Chris Brassel titled The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.’ 

The ‘good’ related to chevron warning signs on the uphill bridge approach toward Goulburn; the ‘bad’ to two “small potholes” on the southbound lane’s northern approach; and the ‘ugly’ to bitumen failure on the southern approach, on the Nerriga side.

Mr Palmer said he verbally communicated the email to Mr O’Rourke that same day and showed him the photos on his computer screen that Mr Brassel had sent. 

“Matt said, ‘what do you think it is, another pothole?’,” Mr Palmer told the inquest.

“I said it was surface movement, that we were asphalting the section the following week and we should keep an eye on it. He agreed.”

Mr Palmer claimed Mr O’Rourke had told him to instruct Mr Brassel to monitor it.

But Mr O’Rourke told Mr O’Donnell he didn’t recall seeing the photos on Mr Palmer’s computer and the claimed conversation “didn’t happen.”

“Are you certain of that?” Mr O’Donnell asked.

“Yes,” Mr O’Rourke replied.

He said if he had seen the photos they would have demonstrated the “adequacy or lack thereof” of an earlier repair in the same section on September 16, 2015. On September 15 Mr Brassel had also alerted his management to this pothole.

Mr O’Rourke said he was concerned that “a brand new road had failed so rapidly.” He told Mr O’Donnell it indicated something was wrong and conceded the seal breakage could become a safety concern within a short time.

The operations director also acknowledged that on October 1, 2015 he was forwarded an email complaint from a motorist, Peter Dwyer about the state of the bridge approaches.

Mr O’Rourke then sent this email to Mr Palmer, who he was aware was on leave until October 6. He titled the email ‘FYI and action.’

”Do you accept that you could have done more to satisfy yourself about the safety of the road approaches on October 1?” Mr O’Donnell asked.

“I accept that,” Mr O’Rourke replied.

However he explained that nothing in the complaint raised alarm. He told Mr O’Donnell he was satisfied the repair was under control and that an asphalting crew was scheduled to arrive at the site in early October, once it had finished a Goulburn job. However Mr O’Rourke said he had “incorrectly formed the view” that Mr Dwyer was only complaining about the bridge’s Nerriga side. 

The inquest also heard that no one was acting in Mr Palmer’s role during his leave. Mr Palmer said he didn’t see Mr O’Rourke’s forwarded email until he returned to work on October 6. But Mr O’Rourke had phoned him on Sunday, October 4, after the fatal crash, seeking advice on who to enlist to fill the pothole.

Mr Palmer told the inquest he held concerns about the bridge approaches as early as January, 2015 when construction started.

These related to the southbound lane on the Goulburn side, where there was “a lack of super elevation,” issues with the guard rail and the bitumen surfacing.

“The braking forces of trucks (on the slope) can cause a rippling effect on the surface,” Mr Palmer said.

He defined rippling as a pushing up of the bitumen surface which could continue to form a “huge pothole.” 

But despite an email from Mr Brassel on September 22, 2015 stating that the bridge’s northern and southern approaches needed to be “addressed this week to make them safe,” Mr Palmer said based on the photographs he didn’t see this work as “urgent.”

He described the pothole repairs as “band-aid solutions” and said he too was confident the asphalting, scheduled to start on October 1 or 2, would fix the problem. However, this work was re-scheduled to mid October due to contractor delays in completing two Goulburn asphalting jobs

But Mr Palmer said if if the road had deteriorated badly, the council could have erected warning signs about pavement damage and reduced speed limit. But he did not believe this was necessary on September 22.

But in response to a question from Mr O’Donnell he conceded such signs should have been implemented “long before the road reached the condition it was in on October 4.”

“Clearly the road deteriorated significantly in the last week of September,” he said.

Under cross examination, Mr Palmer, an engineer, told the inquiry:

“In my entire 24 years involved in road construction and maintenance I have never seen a road deteriorate so quickly.”

He acknowledged he was aware the road condition had to be monitored after September 22 but had not delegated this role to anyone while he was on leave.