![Wagga councillor Richard Foley near a mega-pothole taking up almost a whole lane on Edison Road at East Wagga. Picture by Andrew Mangelsdorf Wagga councillor Richard Foley near a mega-pothole taking up almost a whole lane on Edison Road at East Wagga. Picture by Andrew Mangelsdorf](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/172474527/62ed37ce-1688-40f3-8ed9-c5e6462a1ce1.JPG/r0_0_4608_3456_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A Wagga councillor is warning of an accident waiting to happen as another major pothole forces drivers into oncoming traffic.
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Richard Foley has raised serious concerns about the state of Edison Road in East Wagga, with a mega-pothole taking up close to a whole lane and forcing road users into oncoming traffic.
The warning comes as Cr Foley calls for Wagga City Council to look into conducting a comprehensive trial of a JCB Pothole Pro road repair machine.
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Over the past 18 months, Cr Foley has been promoting the all-in-one pothole fixer, which he believes could revolutionise the way the council does road repairs across the city as it works to clear its road repair backlog, which at last estimate sat about $92 million.
In recent months, the condition of roads across the city has noticeably deteriorated as the council struggles to keep up, with a number of major thoroughfares still littered with potholes.
"It has to be dealt with because we need to get on with improving our [road repair rate]," Cr Foley said.
"This is not an attack on the workers, they are stretched. But if we get this piece of equipment, we will be able to significantly lift production and fix potholes faster."
Whereas pothole repairs currently require three separate machines, the Pothole Pro will be able to do all of these in one go.
"It's a one-pass operation, so instead of using three different pieces of equipment and three operators, there is just one operator," Cr Foley said.
"You will still have to manually fill the holes, but that's always going to be the case."
Cr Foley has tabled a notice of motion at Monday night's council meeting and hopes to garner the support of his fellow councillors.
The motion recommends the council receive a report, which includes an analysis of the Pothole Pro and its suitability for the Wagga LGA road network.
Cr Foley has also asked that the report provide a comparison against the council's existing equipment, outline a process to organise a comprehensive trial of the machine as soon as possible and examine the potential for other councils to take part in the trial.
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