Main Street officially opens

During the official opening ceremony, Weddin Shire mayor Craig Bembrick said the Council and community have been working on this project for a long time.

"On behalf of council I'd like to acknowledge the resilience of our community. They've put up with a hell of a lot over the last two or three years," mayor Bembrick said.

"I know and appreciate the project took a lot longer than anticipated. We certainly found a lot of things under Main Street that we didn't know were there, that obviously needed doctoring," he said.

"And there was several disruptions to our community, local business and travellers. The weather played a big part in a lot of that. A very, very, very wet time and I would like to say thank you for all of your patience," mayor Bembrick said.

Mayor Bembrick said for a period there, the project divided the community and they lost their way with the original project, but they were always striving for a renewed and beautified Main Street.

He said the project was reset after council's general manager Noreen Vu brought the formerly retired engineers Bob Cohen and Mike Ryan onto the project.

"Mike and Bob pounded the pavement every day, talking to business owners and community members and keeping everyone informed, which was very important.

"Their years of experience were invaluable to the project and I have to call them legends," mayor Bembrick said.

While the Main Street project is completed for now, mayor Bembrick said there are still some features to come, which will hopefully include the decommissioning of the old street lights and installation of the new festoon lighting.

Project Engineer Bob Cohen, who came out of retirement to work on the project, said the minute he saw the project, he thought it was achievable.

Mr Cohen said he and fellow project engineer Mike Ryan, who also came out of retirement, got together to develop a plan to build the pavement, settling on a rigid pavement, rather than a flexible one.

"We explained to council through a presentation that the whole of life cost of a rigid pavement is by far beneficial in the long term than what it is to be a flexible pavement," he said.

Mr Cohen said the decisions that really defined that was the subterranean conditions were really woeful.

They addressed these conditions, he said, through installing sub-soil drainage in the western end of the street, which will remain there "forever and a day"..

"All of that water is now under control," he said.

Mr Cohen said they guarantee the work for the next 100 years before it will need to be replaced.

He went on to say the pavement they installed will only start to determinate in 70 years, but it takes 50 years beyond that before it will become unserviceable.

Another thing they had to keep in mind, Mr Cohen said, was the streetscape.

"You can't use conventional machinery to build a flexible pavement with this streetscape, so therefore we used concrete so there was no vibration."

Throughout the construction process, Mr Cohen said they were working with the local community and trying to reduce the inconvenience to the businesses along Main Street.

Mr Cohen said the crew which worked on Main Street were all locals, all of whom were invested in the town.

"All of this, the workmanship is local concreters. The contractors you've got here are exceptional," he said.

Federal Member for Riverina Michael McCormack said work was a long held dream which has become a reality, something to celebrate that is special for Grenfell.

Mr McCormack said locals, particularly businesses along Main Street, have put up with a lot over the last couple of years, but they had faith in the Council it would come to fruition.

The project, he said, came to fruition through a collaboration between Weddin Council and the previous State and Federal Coalition governments.

"I also give credit to mayor Craig Bembrick and general manager Noreen Vu, who never tired from the relentless pursuit of getting this project finished and looking the way it does today," he said.

Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke said it is tremendous to see this project finally complete and the vision of this community now realised.

"It will be here for generations to come and it's not just practical for the people that live and work and play in this community on a daily basis, but it is also beautiful, such that it is welcoming for tourists and other [people to come into this community," she said.

"This was a project well worth undertaking when you see the final result. We know that it will set this community up for generations to come and I fully commend the Council led by mayor Bembrick in terms of delivering this project," Ms Cooke said