The design work is compete for the Bain Bridge to Rosewood Road stretch and construction is included in this financial year’s Port Macquarie-Hastings Council operational plan.

Mayor Peter Besseling said the project would be a significant step for people who travelled the road regularly and had put their views to the council in the past.

“We have to recognise we have a large infrastructure backlog across the local government area, so council is looking at doing what we can with the limited dollars that we have,” he said.

A new section of Beechwood Road west of Bain Bridge opened this week and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council launched the recently completed Beechwood Small Town Sewerage Scheme.

The short section of new road is straighter and wider, and there is rock pitching for erosion protection in the flood prone area.

Mid-August should mark the completion of the roadwork west of Bain Bridge including the removal of the old section of road, signs and line marking. The stretch west of Bain Bridge was due for attention in the 2016-17 operational plan but work was brought forward to coincide with the completion of a new sewer rising main. Cr Besseling said the current Beechwood Road work and Beechwood Small Towns Sewerage Scheme were a great result for the community.

“It’s a cost effective way of tying in a range of infrastructure projects under the one funding model,” Cr Besseling said.

The recently completed $3.2 million Beechwood sewerage system forms part of the Small Towns Sewerage Scheme and the section of Beechwood Road currently being upgraded will cost $650,000.