Lithgow residents can expect to see work begin on the highly anticipated CBD revitalisation project in the coming months after Lithgow City Council accepted a tender for construction on Monday, August 14.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The majority of the work will begin after the Lithgow Halloween Festival and is scheduled to finish late next year.
The project was delayed in June after the original tenders for stage one of the project came in well above the budget.
In order to reduce costs a few changes have been made to the planned upgrades to Cook Street Plaza and the intersection of Main Street and Eskbank Street.
“The original tenders were pretty high and we didn’t really have the funds to cover it so we did change the scope of the work,” director of operations at Lithgow City Council Iain Stewart said.
These changes included the removal of the original planned awning structure and overhead lighting catenary in Cook Street Plaza.
Significant savings have also been made by opting for a different style of paver.
“We have got an objective to improve both locations for pedestrians and obviously we are treating pedestrians with priority,” Mr Stewart said.
“The crossings will be widened and raised to provide additional pedestrian protection and also for increased pedestrian activity.
“There are no crossings at Eskbank Street and we want to raise that whole intersection so that pedestrians can walk diagonally across there if and when they have to.”
Council agreed to enlist the services of Sydney based construction company CA&I for a cost of $2,361,608 excluding GST.
The $2.9 million project is being funded by a $1,304,550 federal government grant and $1,594,450 from council.
In April Councillor Wayne McAndrew led a push to re-allocate funding from the CBD revitalisation project in order to replace all the pavers in Main Street, which are a well-known trip hazard.
This plan failed to gain any traction when brought to the office of the federal member Andrew Gee however council’s aspirations to resurface the walkways in Main Street were not dead and buried.
Mr Stewart said Lithgow council had applied for a grant to replace the pavers in stage two of the revitalisation project.
“The idea will be to continue with future stages to remove the existing pavers and replace them with something more suitable,” he said.
