Moyne Shire Council is launching a detailed audit of its local road network to assess the scale of the repairs, maintenance and rebuilding work required throughout its 5481 square kilometre expanse.
The council has hired contractors equipped with specially fitted cars that will take a range of measurements as they travel the more than 2000km along Moyne's local roads. Aside from taking photographs of the road surface every 10 metres, the equipment will record the road's roughness, collecting a range of data including the camber, slope and unevenness of the road.
The data will then be used to calculate the overall roughness of the road using a complex mathematical formula called the International Roughness Index.
The bumpiness of the road is calculated by recording the response of the specialist vehicle's suspension, taking the speed of the car into account. Both sides of the car take recordings to form an overall "roughness profile" of the road.
The equipment will record data for the shire's 1640km of sealed roads and 400km of unsealed roads. Mayor Karen Foster said the audit would help plan future road renewal throughout Moyne, getting funding and attention where it was needed most.
"We are using this smart technology to help us in our ongoing efforts to maintain our local road network," Cr Foster said.
"Improving the condition of our local roads is a key area of focus for council. Our budget has more than $10 million allocated to improving our local road network and we have secured $11 million in federal funding for works in the Chatsworth area."
The council has launched an online portal showing the full range of roadworks throughout the shire. The portal displays a map with all renewal, repair and resealing works pinpointed, along with photos, expected time frames and details of the funding sources.
The summer months are always the peak road construction season and Cr Foster said crews were flat out trying to get through a huge to-do list.
"From Bessiebelle to Pura Pura and Nullawarre to Chatsworth we have road upgrade or maintenance projects happening across the width and breadth of Moyne," she said.
"We want the community to know the huge efforts we are putting into improving our local road network and the portal is a quick and easy way to see what is being done and where."
Cr Foster said while the major construction projects attracted the most attention, smaller resealing efforts were just as important to maintaining a healthy road network.
"The resealing program is a vital part of road maintenance and helps prolong the life of a road surface," she said.
"Often we get questions about why we are sealing roads that appear to be perfectly fine. While some road surface cracks might look minor, they can lead to big and very expensive problems if they allow water to get through to the sub-structure. Resealing stops that from happening.
"It's like going to the mechanic when you hear a strange noise in your car - it stops the problem getting worse and more expensive to repair."
Ben Silvester
Reporter covering politics, environment and health
Reporter covering politics, environment and health
