Gomersal Road won’t be fixed up unless the Federal Government chips in money.
The Light Regional and Barossa Councils have identified that $1.5million is needed to reconstruct the 15km road that links the Barossa with the Sturt Highway.
The two councils have agreed to combine for $250,000 of the rebuild cost.
The State Government looks likely to provide an additional $250,000.
A spokesman for Patrick Conlon, the State Transport Minister, said be believed the Labor Government would come to the party. This leaves a shortfall of $1million to come from federal funds.
Brian Carr, Light Regional Council chief executive officer, said Gomersal Road had been identified in 2009 as a Special Local Road cause and a priority for action.
Mr Carr said there was no doubt Gomersal Road was a ‘special local road’ and he hoped it would be recognised as such by the federal government.
“The volume of traffic which uses Gomersal Road has increased substantially,” Mr Carr said.
“It is the major link between the Sturt Highway and the Barossa and the amount of traffic will increase even more as the development of Roseworthy continues.”
Mr Carr said his council had again lodged an application for funding through the Central Local Government Region of South Australia.
“We lodged an application for funding in 2009 but were unsuccessful,” he said.
Anita Crisp, the Central Region executive officer, said Gomersal Road had been rated as only the third priority from last year’s applications - behind the Kingston Street bridge in Burra and the Port Broughton bypass.
“We were able to obtain funding for the first two so there is a chance Gomersal Road could be among the top rated listings for this year’s funding,” Ms Crisp said.
Despite missing out so far, there have been plenty of road upgrade supporters.
“Both Nick Champion (Federal Member for Wakefield) and Tony Piccolo (State Member for Light) have been very helpful in our quest,” Mr Carr said. “Nick wrote a very positive letter to support our request for Black Spot funding when I went to Canberra last year to see the Federal Minister for Roads Anthony Albanese.
“All we can do is keep patching it up for the present and hope that funding does come, sooner, rather than later.”
REPAIR WORK HAS ITS OWN DANGERS
The funding delay for upgrades to Gomersal Road could have tragic circumstances.
Not only do persistent potholes prove hazardous for motorists, the patch up work also puts the council employees at risk.
“It’s like playing Russian roulette,” said Russell Trezise from the Light Regional Council.
Mr Trezise and council workmate Brian Schmidt have been asked to do most of the pothole maintenance on the busy road that links Tanunda with the Sturt Highway.
The pair carried out the latest road repairs on Friday, only two weeks after the previous patch up.
“Our job is made harder because the road is so busy and not everyone slows down,” Mr Trezise said.
“We ensure we follow the strict guidelines regarding road safety, but the quantity of vehicles that use Gomersal Road doesn’t give us a lot of time trying to fix the problems.
“The number of trucks which use the road is amazing and doing 90 k’s an hour they really whiz by.
“Admittedly there are some good motorists and truckies who slow down when they see us working but there are also plenty who don’t.”
Mr Trezise said the large amount of time spent on the potholes meant there were less resources available to ensure the road verges were also kept safe.
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