YOU’VE heard of making hay while the sun shines, well, the saying also rings true when it comes to making roads.
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Appleby Lane – 16 kilometres north of the Tamworth CBD – has become a bustling hub activity in recent weeks, at least for council’s engineering department.
Currently, half of Tamworth Regional Council’s civil engineering crew have been deployed to Appleby Lane in the hope of getting more work done while the sun is shining.
The $4.3 million project will connect Manilla Rd to the Oxley Highway with a road suitable for B-doubles, which should give freight better access to the Glen Artney Industrial area.
The federal and state governments have recognised the importance of the project with a $1.5 million contribution from each tier, and council is now putting half of their entire engineering crew to work at the site thanks to some great road-making weather.
“It’s more about the timing of the construction,” senior construction engineer Mark Gardiner told The Leader.
“Some of out other projects are less susceptible to weather.
“March has very good weather, April we’re not so sure about.”
On Friday morning, the Appleby Lane project entered one of its “most challenging stages” with the delivery and installation of some box culverts near Fairs Rd.
“We’re replacing an old causeway with box culverts as part of the road upgrade,” Mr Gardiner said.
“It’s certainly a milestone.”
TRC will remain focused on ticking off as many milestones as it can in the coming weeks with its eyes finishing the project by the end of June.
“It’ll depend on what the weather is doing,” Mr Gardiner said.
“There are other projects still under way.
“We’ve probably got six or eight projects active at the moment.”
Funding for the project includes $1.566 million from the federal government, $1.566 million from the state government through and $1.193 million from TRC.
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
