Imagine living in an environment where you have limited access to essential services like schools, health services, or food supplies because your local roads do not provide all-weather access. People living in developed environments take surfaced roads for granted, without giving much thought to what it would be like if they didn’t have the luxury of a surfaced road network.
This lack of infrastructure is a reality for many, including Al, a local resident living in a remote area near the NSW town of Glen Innes. Al recounted his experience from when he broke his leg in an accident and, fortunately, was able to be taken to hospital for immediate treatment because the Council had surfaced the Old Grafton Road where he lived.
COLAS’ Port Macquarie spray-sealing team have gone on to seal over 100 kms of gravel roads in the rural Councils in Northern NSW since surfacing their first gravel road with a special graded seal in the Bellingen Shire at the end of 2018. The surfacing of low-trafficked gravel roads is more cost-effective than maintaining them in the longer term, thus lessening the burden on rural councils’ limited funding. Councils like Glen Innis Severn have seen the benefits of surfacing their gravel roads with graded seals, which have been welcomed by the local landowners, as well as the general driving public who use these roads every day for their families, work, life, and everything in-between.