It's no surprise that a big chunk of Wollongong City Council's planned budget for 2022-23 is being spent on roads.
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After all, they have a lot of them to look after - around 1100 kilometres in fact.
In the draft budget and infrastructure delivery plan released on Tuesday, council is planning to spend $13 million this coming financial year repairing or reconstructing roads in 87 separate locations.
That includes Bennett Lane in Helensburgh all the way down to Yallah Bay Road at Yallah - and virtually every suburb in between.
But it doesn't include the construction of new roads - in the next financial year there is a separate $10 million pool of funds that will pay for road construction in the growing West Dapto area.
That $13 million is a sizeable chunk of the council's capital works budget that Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said is around $100 million.
He said because the city is elongated and runs north-south, most people don't have a full appreciation of what's going on outside their own patch.
"We have this situation where people only have an understanding of their own local experience of the city," Cr Bradbery said.
"I wouldn't imagine there would be too many people in Helensburgh who are familiar with West Dapto and the problems associated there, for example."
Cr Bradbery said, when it came to roads, $13 million didn't go as far as many may think; he cited work on West Dapto Road which alone is costing $25 million.
So in terms of getting that $13 million to stretch across 87 projects "we've got our work cut out for us," Cr Bradbery said.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
