Ballarat road works: Council's patching priorities revealed

It follows a horror wet winter, with residents unendingly frustrated with the condition of local roads - many commented swerving to avoid potholes had become a regular occurrence, while others have stated serious damage had been done to their vehicles.

The tender is part of a summer project from council, targeting 91 roads, covering 367,015 square metres, for resealing and 82 roads, covering 29,110 square metres, targeted for major patching, according to a council media release.

The tender states the works must be completed by March 31.

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As well as the resurfacing and patching, despite issues with contractors, Tait Street in Sebastopol is expected to rebuilt, while a separate tender has gone out for Ligar Street to be rehabilitated between Walker Street and Landsborough Street in Ballarat North.

The City of Ballarat will begin work on a roundabout at the intersection of Warrenheip Road and Navigators Road this month.

The intersection is notorious - in an 80km/h zone and involving a bend in the road, council notes that while there have been no casualty crashes, it's had to update signage six times since 2017.

Nearby residents say it's not unusual to hear about trucks crashing into fences.

Works are expected to take about 10 weeks, according to council's infrastructure and environment director Bridget Wetherall, who said council received "no objections" after a targeted letter drop.

The project is partly funded by the federal government's Roads to Recovery fund, and is expected to cost just over a million dollars.

Rob Gateley owns Eureka Boarding Kennels and Cattery nearby, and he's happy something's being done to address safety in the area, though an improved service road would be a valuable addition to the design.

"I think a roundabout will help," he said.

"We've always had a few concerns, a lot of traffic uses our driveway, and the front of our property, to cut through to Warrenheip Road and miss the intersection - they tear it up, and we pay tens of thousands to fix it - so they're going to put a barrier in to stop that."

Elsewhere, council will begin construction on a roundabout at the dangerous Ring Road and Gregory Street West intersection in Mitchell Park "this financial year".

READ MORE: Big summer of roadworks planned

The tender is yet to be awarded, Ms Wetherall noted in a statement.

Several crashes have occurred at the intersection, including two in a week in 2020.

Another roundabout project, at the deadly Remembrance Drive and Madden Road intersection, is in the design phase after a heritage permit application was submitted at the end of 2021.

Roundabout works are also expected to begin soon at Ripon Street and Urquhart Street in Ballarat Central after it received Black Spot funding.

Separate to the council works, the state government's Regional Roads Victoria is planning to close Albert Street in Sebastopol as part of roundabout replacement night works from October 2 to October 17.

According to a transport alert, the "final asphalting works" will be done at night, with southbound lanes on Albert Street between Rubicon Street and Bala Street to be closed from October 2 to 6, and northbound lanes closed from October 6 to 13 apart from Friday and Saturday nights.

READ MORE: Ballarat roadworks cripple Delacombe car wash business at DTC

The top layer of road surface will be laid and linemarking completed overnight on Sunday, October 16 and Monday, October 17 in both directions.

Access to residential properties will be maintained but detours will be in place.

The works are part of the state government's $60 million Keeping Ballarat Moving project, upgrading intersections in Wendouree, Sebastopol, and Delacombe.

As part of the project, Wiltshire Lane north of the Glenelg Highway will remain closed until November.

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