LOCAL residents and visitors to the region will notice a significant improvement at Port Macquarie’s Shelly Beach Reserve before the end of the year.
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council is spending about $90,000 upgrading the area.
People travelling to Shelly Beach are being asked to exercise caution due to pedestrian and traffic restrictions associated with the works.
Two separate projects are currently underway.
The first is being carried out at a cost of $60,000 and will result in improvements to safety and accessibility and more area for social activities.
The council’s infrastructure delivery group manager Gary Randall said the council was in the process of reclaiming a section of the existing car park as grassed reserve and relocating several car parking spaces within the expanded reserve area.
He said the reclaimed area was closer to the beach and would provide more area for social activities, particularly at busy times of the year such as Christmas.
Mr Randall said the council would also be constructing a new footpath and re-instating the existing rock wall to provide better access to the beach and safer access to the amenities.
The existing shower will be relocated and replaced with a new shower set-up similar to those in use at Town Beach and Flynn’s Beach.
The second project involves extensive work on the Shelly Beach walkway at a cost of approximately $29,000.
The council’s recreation and building group manager Liam Bulley said significant sections of timber decking and bearers were at the end of their life and were being replaced.
The bottom section of the boardwalk is being replaced with fibreglass grating because it provides better slip resistance than timber in an area that is often wet and shaded.
