Deputy mayor says the $50 million funding announcement does nothing for regions unsealed roads

For months road works have been happening along different sections of the Mitchell Highway, causing disruption to road users.

Councillor Ivey said it was good to see work getting done but the weather was not in council's favour.

"You start on one little area and it's not just that one little area, but honestly it's pretty horrendous to drive on," he said.

"They are attacking it in a logical fashion and making progress but in the meantime it's causing a lot of problems with traffic...but I think everyone realises it's inevitable in these conditions."

Cr Ivey said the crews weren't just fixing potholes but taking the road back and digging down to fill it and make a good foundation.

With the announcement of $50 million from the state government to repair potholes in regional NSW, Cr Ivey said his first reaction was 'yes please, that's really good'.

"Any little bit helps but I think the emphasis is on the 'little', it's not going to go all that far," he said.

With a total of almost 2800 kilometres of roads to maintain, Cr Ivey said nearly 1300 kilometres of those are unsealed roads.

"Unfortunately the $50 million to fix a few potholes is not going to go far at all and it doesn't go anywhere towards doing anything for the unsealed portions," he said.

Cr Ivey described the Wellington unsealed roads as "diabolical" and filled with potholes, ruts, washouts and poor sub service.

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"We are coming up to the time when those roads are just so important for harvest to get machinery to and from paddocks and also to carve the grain, some people are really worried about that," he said.

A concerned resident who runs a Stud Marino farm called Cr Ivey in a panic because they had a ram sale and a truck couldn't get down the unsealed road to pick the rams up.

"That's when it becomes quite serious its not just inconvenience, it's your livelihood," he said.

"I think it's good potholes get fixed, provided it doesn't take away from the realisation how bad the unsealed roads are and how important it is to work on them and bring them up to standard."

While fixing potholes on sealed roads is "good" Cr Ivey said the potholes were just symptomatic of other problems.

"Why did potholes get there in the first place? It didn't just miraculously appear, it's almost always got there because the moisture is getting in under the tarmac, so to fix the pothole problem you have to get the moisture away from the road," he said.

"That means fixing table drains and the minor drains and often you can see they've fixed the pothole and the next rain event it all washes out again because water is getting in underneath, so to fix it properly we've got to get the water away from the road."

According to the deputy mayor council was geared up to have staff, machinery and a plant to undertake normal maintenance programs but with the third wet year in a row it all changed.

"The normal maintenance plan goes out the window and council doesn't have the resources to cope with what is a one in a 60 year event," he said.

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