Six months after the first section of John St was closed to allow for construction of the Singleton Town Centre Revitalisation, the road will reopen to all through traffic.
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This Friday the new asphalt wearing course will be laid in Stage 3, between Castlereagh and Pitt streets, and on Saturday morning the asphalt will be laid in the Hunter St intersection.
Diona has advised Singleton Council they expect to reopen the road to all through traffic by late Saturday.
Paving works will continue in the footpath in Stage 3 for a further two weeks with other close out works also continuing, however, no further road closures are anticipated.
Singleton Council Assistant General Manager Gary Thomson says Council is delighted to see John St restored to two-way through traffic from this weekend.
“Stage 1, between Gowrie and York streets, was closed to vehicles on 19 January and has been closed at different times for various durations across the six stages,” he says.
“When we began construction, we told the community we expected to finish in September, so it’s a wonderful result to see the street reopened to traffic two months ahead of the original schedule.
“We learnt a lot of lessons in the early stages, both Council and the contractor Diona, and while these caused some initial delays to the opening of stages one and four, Diona has done a tremendous job delivering the project within the new contract schedule.
“Over the next several months, there will be some close out works, touch ups and fine tuning but we expect the site will be handed back to Council by the end of August. We are planning an official opening in September.”
Mr Thomson says while it has been a difficult period for retailers, Council is looking forward to renewed interest and prosperity in the Singleton town centre.
“The project is expected to have flow-on effects that increase the short and long term economic benefits to tourism, travel, safety, markets and community events, property appreciation, employment and the environment,” he says.
“Some of these benefits will be immediately apparent, such as increasing the safety of John St at night with new lighting bringing this area up to Australian standard, while others will take longer to be realised.
“The project has particularly improved access to our main street for people with disabilities, including providing disability parking, new raised pedestrian crossings, new kerb ramps and directional tactiles for people with low vision.
Many of these features are also of benefit to parents with prams.” Mr Thomson says adoption of the new Footpath Trading Policy this month is very timely for retailers wishing to take advantage of the new footpaths.
“We see lots of exciting opportunities for events and activities in John St and over the next few months will be speaking with the community about what they would like to see,” he says.
The $11 million Singleton Town Centre Revitalisation project was funded by a $9 million grant from the NSW Government under the Resources for Regions program with a $2 million contribution from Singleton Council and $200,000 from Roads and Maritime Services.
For more information on the project, photos and a detailed timeline visit www.singleton.nsw.gov.au/majorprojects