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City of Wollongong
Resident Visitor Business

Pavement Stabilisation

Pavement stabilisation is one way we can rebuild the deeper layers of a road.

Because it's more complicated than works on the top surface only, pavement stabilisation involves a few stages and can take longer to complete.

The process

1. Preparation

  • A few months before work starts, you might see workers on your street doing tests or other preparation work, like repairing curbs.
  • A few days before work starts you'll get a notice in your letterbox telling you what dates we expect work to happen, and any other important details you need to know.
  • Right before work starts you'll need to move all vehicles - including cars, caravans and trailers - off the road.

2. Stabilising works

This part usually takes one week, but can vary depending on the length of road and any services to be lowered.

  • There'll be large equipment on your street, and traffic controls in place.
  • The street will most likely be closed to anyone who is not a resident, and there'll be no on-street parking.
  • You may still be able to access your house by car at most times, but there can be short delays. We recommend parking on a nearby street and walking to and from your property if you can.
  • We'll dig up the road, then mix the existing road materials with binders (a white powder made of lime or cement) to strengthen and stabilise them.
  • The road surface will be compacted by rollers, watered and trimmed by a grader.

3. Setting

  • The road will be left without a seal for the next 2 - 5 days and watered continually to set the new binder.
  • Soft spots and cracks can often appear. These will be fixed before the road is sealed.
  • You will usually be allowed to park on the street at this stage, and drive at a reduced speed. We'll let you know if you can't do this.

4. Temporary spray seal

A few days after setting, we'll put a temporary spray seal on the road surface. This provides waterproofing and protects the road while the binder hardens.

It usually takes one day to put the temporary spray seal on. While that's happening, the road will again be closed to non-residents, and there'll be no on-street parking.

We know spray seals are not always popular and can be messy. See our Spray Sealing page for more information about this stage.

The spray seal will be left for up to three months while the road settles. The time this takes can depend on the type of stabilisation binder used.

5. Final surface

After the road has settled, we'll come back and check that the surface is ok, then cover it with smooth asphalt.

This will usually involve another road closure and no on-street parking for a day or two. See our Asphalt Works page for more information.

If any line marking is needed, that will be done after the asphalt is in place.

Then all the work is done!

Common questions about pavement stabilisation works

Stabilisation is cost effective and sustainable.

Because we use material that's already in place, it's about a third of the cost of other methods. This means we can fix more roads each year. It also means less material goes to landfill.

Contractors chosen through a competitive tender process do this work on behalf of Council. We regularly check the quality and cost of their work.

If you have any questions or concerns about the work, please contact Council.

That's probably because it's still a work in progress.

It takes about three months for the base layers of the road to harden. This is an important part of the process , and we can't speed it up.

To waterproof the road while that process happens, we put a temporary spray seal on top.  When the road's ready, we'll come back and put the final asphalt surface on top, which is much smoother.

It's normal for road works to be messy. You might see excess white powder, sticky bitumen or loose stones during the work. It's also common to see marks on the road from power steering and turning, but these should fade.

The contractor is responsible for cleaning the site and any mess that may occur.

Driving on the spray seal can flick up small stones, so please drive slowly and carefully on this temporary surface. Doing this will actually help to settle the loose stones.

We recommend you avoid walking on the newly sprayed road so you don't track marks into your car or home.

Bad weather

When it rains, we can’t complete our roadworks. Sometimes we need to delay our program because of weather, but we will always reschedule works for another date.

Traffic control, detours and delays

All roadwork is done with the support of traffic control. This may be ‘stop/slow’ arrangements or detours and road closures.

Please pay attention to signs and follow instructions. Depending on the type of work being completed we may or may not be able to allow vehicle access to properties.

Our traffic control will always allow access for emergency services, so please don't worry about this.

If your street is on a bus route, we work with the bus company to minimise delays.

We'll also work to allow access for your kerbside bins to be collected.

Questions about roadworks

If you have any questions about roadworks, please get in touch with either: