Brayton Road had deteriorated to such an extent the work was necessary, Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s operations director Matt O’Rourke told the most recent meeting.

The rehabilitation, stretching 600 metres, involved stabilisation of the foundation, new layers of road base, bitumen sealing and drainage improvements. It cost $220,000.

Mr O’Rourke told The Post the surface had been breaking up.

“Many of our rural roads don’t have great foundations and deteriorate over time,” he said.

In this case there was insufficient drainage and water had saturated the pavement.

The section is north of the entrance to Gunlake Quarry. It was not caused by trucks from that operation as they travelled in the opposite direction, Mr O’Rourke said. 

The work, which has already been undertaken, was not budgeted in this year’s capital works program and required a reallocation.

The money will be taken from the 2017/18 capital works program. This fund had set aside $280,000 for Currawang Road improvements and $220,000 for rolling upgrades to Oallen Ford Road.  

Mr O’Rourke said Currawang Road could be deferred to 2018/19, leaving $58,000 that could be added to the Oallen Ford Road work to increase its scope. He told the meeting it was not appropriate to take the money from the $343,000 annual rural sealed road maintenance fund as this was for minor repairs and maintenance across the council’s 500km of rural roads.

Cr Peter Walker said he didn’t like the word “urgent,’ telling his colleagues that if it was a matter of safety, “protocol” should have been followed and a special meeting called to support staff.