As the Singleton community continues to recover from damage caused by multiple floods, the council is starting work on a major repair project set to re-connect rural villages by road.
The replacement of sections of The Inlet Road at Bulga, which were washed away during record flooding in July 2022, began on Monday.
Justin Fitzpatrick-Barr, council's director of infrastructure and planning services, said restoring the two culverts, which would reconnect properties on either side of Bulga, was a big-ticket item on the flood recovery works program.
"For more than a year we have been working towards repairing the devastation caused by these flooding events but have been slowed down by factors outside of our control like material availability and access to disaster funding," he said.
"The Inlet Road culvert replacement is one of the bigger items on our flood recovery works program, and it's great to see construction start on another project that will restore our local road network.
"Not only will these works repair the two gaps created in the road by floodwater, restoring the link between properties and the village of Bulga, but the replacement culverts have been designed to ensure The Inlet Road can withstand further natural disasters."
The Inlet Road works will include the construction of two new stormwater culverts, located about 3.2 kilometres from Putty Road, and road resurfacing.
Byrne Pipe and Civil has been awarded the tender for the $1.5 million project, funded through Transport for NSW's Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
During works there will be earthmoving machinery, trucks, cranes, construction workers and materials on site.
The Inlet Road sidetrack will remain open during the works but will be closed once the project has been completed.
Work will be carried out from Monday to Friday between 7am and 5pm and, where approved by council, some activity may occur on a Saturday.
Road traffic management will be in place. Motorists are advised to slow down, take caution and follow signage.
The job is expected to be complete by mid-December - weather permitting.
Almost $6 million is being injected to repair the local road network in the Bulga, Broke, Milbrodale and Paynes Crossing villages following widespread damage during the July 2022 flooding event.
Access to disaster funding, material availability and lengthy approval processes from other levels of government have impacted timelines for these projects, the council said in its statement.
