ONCE again, the Cox Street Redevelopment Project works are set to get underway - with the project deadline now pushed out to the end of April 2024.

Months after the June 2023 planned date of completion for the project, works will resume next Monday, October 30 with the Southern Grampians Shire Council (SGSC) again asking the community to remain patient.

Locals have been speculating on the protracted progress of the project that has been plagued by delays, technical glitches, and design revisions with the lengthy closure of Cox Street causing consternation to road users and local businesses.

Community anger rose to the fore when an alleged dispute arose in August this year between SGSC and the primary contractor responsible for the works, international mining, infrastructure and construction contracting group MACA Civil.

In a SGSC meeting in March this year, Cr Albert Calvano put the question to SGSC infrastructure and sustainability director, Marg Scanlon, about the estimated completion date.

“Works will be finished by the end of June,” she responded at the time.

Then in August 2023, the project came to a complete standstill when MACA Civil walked out on the job.

MACA Civil was awarded tender for the $3.2 million project in July 2021 for improvements to the road, kerb, footpath, lighting, and underground drainage.

SGSC chief executive, Tony Doyle, said this week the community would undoubtedly be very pleased to see the project underway again.

He said these works included the replacement of the subsurface water mains and storm water drainage along Cox Street between Lonsdale and French streets.

Sharing in residents and business’ frustration, Mr Doyle said Council had also been “extremely frustrated with the lack of progress on this project”.

“We have been in close discussions with the contractor who now has a program of works mapped out, with two sub-contractors locked in, until the end of December 2023,” he said.

“We are still reliant on the contractor locking in one sub-contractor to complete the works pre-Christmas and the remaining works post-Christmas; however, the contractor is assuring us the project will be complete by the end of April 2024. 

“It’s now time to look forward and see some real progress happening.

“We now ask the community and local traders to be patient with us for a few more months.”

Road users are advised that traffic in Cox Street will be impacted incrementally for six weeks as works re-start.

The first week of traffic impacts are as follows:

On Monday, October 30 and Tuesday, October 31, the intersection of Cox and Sedgewick streets will be completely closed to traffic.

Customers can use Permewans Mitre 10 drive-through but can only exit to the right into Cox Street.

On Wednesday, November 1, until Friday, November 3, Cox Street will be closed in both directions from Sedgewick Street to Ballarat Road.

Permewans Mitre 10 customers can use the drive-through but can only exit to the left into Cox Street (they will be allowed through the roadblock at Sedgewick Street).

Council will endeavour to provide impending road/lane closure updates to the community as quickly as they are received by the contractor.

Council advise that once the water main and drainage works have been completed, MACA will then begin rebuilding the eastern half of the road in Cox Street early December.

This includes demolishing the existing road and carrying out preparatory earthworks.

Mr Doyle said it was crucial that heavy vehicle drivers adhered to signage that prohibits them from using Cox Street.

“Cox Street remains a construction zone and will continue to be a restricted area for heavy vehicles until the project is finished,” Mr Doyle said.

“In the interest of public safety and the protection of the work being undertaken, heavy vehicles must use the temporary designated detours until further notice.

“Council has informed the heavy vehicle regulator about the detours, and we have requested that the detours are included on mapping systems used by the industry.

“Any heavy vehicle not using the alternate route is breaking the law.”

The temporary heavy vehicle detours are:

•             From Coleraine Road: Mount Baimbridge Road, Portland Road, South Boundary Road, Mt Napier Road, Petschels Lane, Hamilton Highway and Ballarat Road.

•             From Glenelg Highway: Hamilton Highway, Petschels Lane, Mt Napier Road, South Boundary Road, Portland Road, Mount Baimbridge Road and Coleraine Road.

•             From Hamilton Highway: Petschels Lane, Mt Napier Road, South Boundary Road, Portland Road, Mount Baimbridge Road and Coleraine Road.

Mr Doyle said that Council was also going through the quotation process with local contractors to progress the demolition of the old house on Cox Street.

He said parallel to this, discussions are also underway with members of the community who potentially want to salvage building materials from the house for repurposing.

Jointly funded by Council and the Victorian Government, this project has an overall budget of $4.6 million and will improve the Ballarat Road entry of the central business district by undergrounding existing power lines, installing new Telstra lines (east side only), adding of a new median strip with street lighting and constructing new pavement (east side only), as well as a three-metre-wide footpath.