ROADWORKS have driven people away from Warrnambool’s city centre, a veteran Liebig Street trader says.
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Max Taylor questioned why the city council decided to start the works at multiple locations simultaneously, rather than completing them indivdiually.
He said after steady increases in trade over September and October, his business had suffered a drop estimated at 15 per cent.
“I’m putting it down to the roadworks,” he said.
“Other traders I’ve spoken to have felt the same. Businesses have suffered because of it.
“It was terribly dangerous for drivers too, I think the only ones who have done well out of this is the tyre and wheel alignment places.”
A $1 million program of works was carried out from late October to mid-November, ripping up 17 sections of road pavement around the city centre, including some roundabouts.
The sites were identified as works priorities through the council’s regular auditing process.
Warrnambool City Council chief executive officer Bruce Anson said the upgrades across the various locations were done in three stages in an effort to gain better value for ratepayers’ money.
“The first stage was the major removal of the old surface, pavement reinstatement and preparation for sealing,” he said.
“The second stage was the sealing of the road with hot mix asphalt and the third stage was line marking and finishing.”
Mr Anson said each stage involved dedicated machinery and equipment.
“By completing a stage across all 17 sites before moving to the next stage council was able to make the best use of equipment, get better value for ratepayers’ money and shorten the overall time that traffic was disrupted,” he said.
“The alternative to the process we followed would have created a massive additional cost to ratepayers and a much longer work duration.”
Mr Anson thanked the community for their patience and contractors and staff for delivering a “quality result”.
Mr Taylor said businesses were still suffering despite the works being completed.
“I really hope the city council has learnt something from this,” he said.
“This work could have been done a bit earlier and not just as shoppers and traders were starting to gear up for Christmas.”