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HomeLatest NewsHoley heck: hundreds of potholes still awaiting repairs on Beaches roads

Holey heck: hundreds of potholes still awaiting repairs on Beaches roads

The wild weather may have passed, for now,  but Northern Beaches residents continue to navigate a ‘Swiss cheese’ network of damaged roads, causing incidents and ripping tyres clean off their wheels.

Major arterial roads such as Wakehurst Parkway, Pittwater Road and Barrenjoey Road – all the responsibility of the State Government – are causing the most damage, with a handful of readers sharing their experiences with tyres bursting from the impact of hitting some particularly deep or sharp-edged holes.

The Wakehurst Parkway stretch from Seaforth to the Northern Beaches Hospital has been a particularly bumpy ride. A NSW Transport spokesperson acknowledged the constant stream of work needed on the road and confirmed a crew had been sent out on the very  night of our media request, to address three particularly concerning craters.

“Since 21 February, repair crews have attended Wakehurst Parkway at Seaforth on many occasions, filling 93 potholes,” the Transport for NSW spokesperson said.

“Due to poor weather and recent flooding, potholes are an ongoing issue on New South Wales roads.

Catherine Fitgerald Fletcher says her car was taken off the road after hitting a huge pothole on Roseville Bridge enroute to Forestville last week.

“A separate ‘find and fix’ operation was also carried out by a sub-contractor last month, to locate and repair all potholes they came across between Frenchs Forest and Seaforth. These potholes are in addition to the 93 mentioned above.

“Transport for NSW is working with Councils and has made up to $25 million in funding available to flood-affected councils in Greater Sydney.”

The damage also extends well into the local road network, which is the responsibility of Northern Beaches Council.

Here Council informs us some 3,622 reports of potholes have been made over the last three months.  There are now 345 remaining jobs – but potentially many still unreported.

Northern Beaches Council CEO Ray Brownlee said the weather in 2022 had caused “a lot of damage to our roads and other infrastructure”.

“Our crews have worked very hard to repair potholes on local roads as quickly as possible and have almost completed the long list of reported issues,” he said.

The public can report damage to local roads via the Customer Service number 1300 434 434 or online here.

For State-owned roads visit the Transport for NSW webpage.

We took a short drive through some local roads on the weekend to see what damage we might find, here is a sample:

Bellevue St, Fairlight. Photo: Alec Smart
Condamine St, near Koorala St, Manly Vale. Photo: Alec Smart
Darley Road, near Vivian Street, Manly. Photo: Alec Smart
Eustace Street, near Gilbert Street, Manly. Photo: Alec Smart
Harbord Rd, near Wyndora Ave, Freshwater. Photo: Alec Smart
Lumsdaine Drive, near Curl Curl Boardwalk Ave, Freshwater. Photo: Alec Smart
New West St, near Russell St, Balgowlah Heights. Photo: Alec Smart
Raglan St, near Birkley Lane, Manly. Photo: Alec Smart
Sydney Rd, near Parkview Rd, Manly. Photo: Alec Smart
Wood St, near East Esplanade, Manly. Photo: Alec Smart

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Manly Observer is an experiment in providing non-sensationalist hyperlocal news on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. We cover the big news across the LGA, but with a hyper focus on the Manly electorate encompassing Balgowlah, Seaforth, Freshwater, Brookvale and Curl Curl up to Dee Why. It is run by those living in the community for the benefit of an informed community. We care about an informed and connected community. That’s it. Simple. Thank you for your support in keeping quality local news alive!

Kim Smee, Editor


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