At the Eurobodalla Council meeting of Tuesday 22nd February 2022 the Eurobodalla Council will move a recommendation that an application be submitted to the NSW Government Regional Road Transfer and Classification Review to reclassify Araluen Road as a State Road along with other proposed classifications across the region.
In the agenda Council recommends:
Campbell Street and Luck Street Moruya and Araluen Road from Yarragee Road to the border of Eurobodalla LGA at Pigeon Gully should be classified as a Regional Road.
"The other key consideration for Council is the overall level of funding available to sustain key inter-regional routes, with the primary example being Araluen Road. This route is designated as a local road for administrative purposes. This road used to be funded under the regional roads program some decades ago prior to the previous road classification review when it was returned to Council as a local road. This review provides the opportunity for Council to apply to have this road returned to a regional road with funding support provided by the NSW Government to assist in the upkeep of this inter-region road.
"Eurobodalla Shire Council is an eligible council and can also apply for the transfer of the road ownership to the NSW Government where this may be appropriate and in line with the recommended criteria. The NSW Government is not obliged to accept any or all of the nominations put forward by Council. Any roads transferred to become a State road would mean that Council would still own the public road reserve but not the physical road infrastructure within the road reserve. This is the typical arrangement in place over most State highways now including the Princes Highway and Kings Highway.
"Council would hand over control of the level of maintenance of the asset, which would mean the future intervention levels and actions would be set by Transport for NSW rather than by Council. This would be a similar arrangement to the way intervention levels are set by Transport for NSW for the Princes Highway and Kings Highway.
"These levels of service will not necessarily be higher than the current service provided by Council. For instance, Council may seek a higher level of presentation to suit our key visitor market than applied by Transport for NSW. Council would still seek to undertake the maintenance and other works on these roads with a view to maintaining the work and the associated local employment. This may be under a similar arrangement to the road maintenance contract Council has with Transport for NSW on the Kings Highway. The NSW Government would take on the depreciation, maintenance and upgrading costs for the roads transferred to State ownership, noting that in many cases this is already substantially funded through the Regional Road Block Grant Agreement and other associated grants.
"For any roads transferred to the State, upgrading plans would also be determined by Transport for NSW rather than Council. Roads becoming State owned may also trigger additional requirements such as automatic referral of development applications to Transport for NSW. The review panel has assured councils that the ongoing cost of maintaining and operating traffic lights would remain with Transport for NSW for the foreseeable future, even if a State owned or Regional Road was to become a local road.
Given the function of the road, the roads most suited to transfer to State owned Regional Roads include:
i) Bermagui Road (Princes Highway to Wallaga Lake)
ii) Campbell Street, Luck Street and Araluen Road
Araluen Road is in dire need of funding in order to function as a inter-region route and to provide access to residents, farmers and emergency response.
