ANYONE driving along Beechwood Road in the past few months would have noticed the works taking place on the side of the road, associated with laying the new sewer line to Beechwood village.
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And anyone who regularly drives Beechwood Road will no doubt be happy to have heard that this term of councillors decided to make Beechwood Road a priority for major rehabilitation, bringing this job forward by several years.
Following that decision, last year about $500,000 was allocated to the current year's budget for pre-construction design of the proposed works, and discussions are now taking place over details.
Less obvious to the casual observer will be the issue of that short stretch of road west from Bains Bridge to the intersection with Pembrooke Road - where the road takes a sharp left off the bridge and then hard right.
Council has had a long standing agreement with the landowner for a land swap to permit straightening this stretch, and it was recently decided to bring the realignment forward to piggy back with the sewer line works.
Barring unforeseen problems, in the near future residents should see significant work taking place there, with major earthworks to redirect the road straight off the bridge and up to a new intersection with Pembrooke Road. This work should be completed in the next few months.
Then regrading Beechwood Road rehabilitation, as part of this year's pre-construction design work, our transport engineers focussed on the busiest stretch of road - from Oxley Highway to Mortons Creek Road.
That stretch was divided into six logical sections, and a preliminary analysis done of what was needed and involved for each section.
In January the staff briefed councillors and it was generally agreed we should start with the section from Rosewood Road to the bridge - a nightmare stretch well known to local drivers.
The engineers are now preparing more detailed designs for that section, with preliminary estimates going up to about $2.5 million, depending on precisely what work is to be done.
I'll have more details on that question to share in the next few weeks.
(Please note that these are Cr Intemann's opinions, and not necessarily the opinion of Port Macquarie-Hastings Council.)