Vehicle crossings built to East Gippsland Shire standards

The bit between your boundary and the road

A vehicle crossing is the stretch of driveway that crosses the nature strip, footpath and kerb or drain to reach the road. It sits on public land, so East Gippsland Shire Council decides where it can go, how wide it can be and how it must be built. Building one without consent can mean being asked to remove it.

Consent and paperwork

We prepare the application for works within the road reserve, include the location, width and construction details the Shire asks for, and build to the approved standard. If your property fronts the Princes Highway or the Great Alpine Road, the state roads authority also has to approve access, and we factor in their requirements and lead times.

Kerbed streets and footpaths

Most town streets in Bairnsdale, East Bairnsdale, Paynesville and Lakes Entrance have kerb and channel. A crossing there typically involves cutting out the old kerb, installing a layback or crossover kerb, rebuilding the footpath at the correct level and pouring the crossing in plain broom-finished concrete so it matches the street.

Rural roads and culverts

Around Lindenow, Bruthen, Nicholson, Johnsonville and Orbost, many roads have open table drains instead of kerbs. A crossing there needs a culvert pipe with concrete endwalls so storm water keeps flowing under the entrance. The Shire specifies pipe size and length; we install it on a proper bed, backfill and compact around it and pour the crossing over the top.

Services, trees and sight lines

We arrange locating of water, sewer, gas, power, NBN and stormwater before digging. Council clearances from street trees, poles and pits can shift where the crossing goes, and on hilly streets in Lakes Entrance or Metung, sight distance to oncoming traffic matters too.

Replacing or widening a crossing

Old crossings that are cracked, sunk or too narrow can be replaced or widened within the Shire's limits. Doing it alongside a new driveway saves a second set-up and keeps everything level.

Bairnsdale ground, East Gippsland weather and Shire rules

Bairnsdale sits on terraces above the Mitchell River just before it runs out into Lake King. The older streets on the higher terraces mostly stand on red-brown loam over clay, which holds a slab well once the soft topsoil is gone. Down on the river flats toward Lucknow, the Macleod Morass and the Mitchell's lower reaches, the soil turns to fine grey alluvial clay that stays wet after rain and has gone under in big floods. The rising country at Wy Yung, Eastwood and Granite Rock has duplex soils where a thin sandy top hides stiff, reactive clay, and the lakes towns of Paynesville, Eagle Point and Metung bring sand and a high water table. Summers are warm and dry with the odd scorching northerly, winter mornings can frost, and east coast lows can drop a month of rain in two days. A test hole goes in at every site visit, and we set the excavation, base, steel and curing to suit what comes out of it.

Inside your own fence line, a driveway, path or patio rarely needs a permit. Once the work leaves your title and runs over the verge, footpath or kerb, it requires consent from East Gippsland Shire Council, which looks after Bairnsdale, Paynesville, Lakes Entrance, Metung, Bruthen, Orbost and the surrounding districts. Access onto the Princes Highway or the Great Alpine Road is a state road and involves the Department of Transport and Planning as well. Flood overlays, bushfire attack level ratings, house slabs and larger sheds can bring a building surveyor and engineer into the job. Your quote spells out which of those applies.

What a Bairnsdale Concreting quote shows you

Our quotes are written up after we have stood on the site, and they break the work into the pieces you would want to question. You will see the area we measured, any demolition of old slabs, pavers, bitumen or gravel and where it will be tipped, how deep we plan to dig, the crushed rock we will bring in and how many compacted layers it goes down in, the concrete strength, how thick the slab will be, and the reinforcement plus the chairs that lift it, the surface finish or stone mix, the joint layout, pits and stormwater connections, edges, steps and sealer. A vehicle crossing permit from East Gippsland Shire, a concrete pump, a long wheelbarrow run behind a house, or protection for a neighbour's garden are each listed as their own line.

We do not publish rates per square metre. Around Bairnsdale a driveway can sit on free-draining red loam on the river terraces, on grey alluvial clay down on the Mitchell River flats, on heavy duplex clay up at Wy Yung, or on loose lake-edge sand at Paynesville, and those four sites need four different bases. A figure printed on a website would be wrong for most of them, so we look first and quote what your block actually needs.