Page 67 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 25 February 2014

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MR RATTENBURY: I think, as has become clear through the line of questioning, this is the first time that I have become aware of the all-day service being part of the proposition. I will need to check on that. I will come back with the answer to the whole stream of questions on that one and perhaps clarify the situation.

Roads—Apperly Close

MR WALL: My question is to the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services. Minister, residents of Apperly Close in Kambah have advised me that recent road surface remediation work on their street has left the road in a worse state than it was before. When will this road surface be returned to good order?

MR RATTENBURY: I have not received specific feedback on that particular street. I am happy to take some further advice. What I can say as a general observation is that the nature of the road resurfacing is such that after the resurfacing is first conducted there usually is an excess of aggregate on the surface and, as part of the contracts that Roads ACT has with the contractors that do the road resurfacing, street sweeping will take place at certain times. Over the course of the use of the road, the surface does bed down further. That is, I guess, part of the regular model of road resurfacing and what we see over time is that the surface does become smoother as the aggregate is pressed into the surface.

What we have seen in recent times in some of the extended hot weather periods is that some surfaces did become sticky, for want of a better work. They essentially melted in the heat. Roads ACT has had to undertake repairs in a number of locations. We also know that the behaviour of the bitumen essentially is that it hardens up over a number of years. Where recent works have been conducted there have been, because of the particularly hot weather, some flaws there and repairs are being undertaken.

I do not think that is the case with this particular street in Kambah. I think it might be a case where residents are frustrated by the excess aggregate in the short term, and I can reassure them that the street sweeping will clean that up over time.

MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Wall.

MR WALL: Minister, what communication has taken place between residents and members of the ACT government with regard to the road surface remediation work in Apperly Close?

MR RATTENBURY: The normal process for, I guess, communication in the sense you are asking is that signs go up—and members will have seen these—indicating that road resurfacing will take place in a certain area. I am not sure that there is an individual mail-out as there is with perhaps some other projects because resurfacing tends to take place on a larger scale. Then, of course, if members of the public contact Canberra Connect or Roads ACT there will be an opportunity for someone to either reply to their email or perhaps take a phone call, depending on how members of the public contact the government.

MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Smyth.


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