Newly sealed section of Wollondibby Road will ease distillery access and parking for cars and buses.
Wildbrumby Distillery, the creator of award-winning Snowy Mountains spirits, is celebrating the completion of a long-running project to seal part of Wollondibby Road.
The section of road leading from the EcoCrackenback turnoff to the distillery was previously unsealed and heavily potholed.
Eight years in the design phase, the new section of road is now complete.
“We managed and funded the entire project,” says distillery founder Brad Spalding.
“It was a very large amount for a little distillery to come up with, but managing infrastructure is part of the cost of doing business in a remote location.
“We are already managing all our own water treatment and effluent, and this sealed section of road represents yet another big step forward for us.”
A key benefit is the creation of extra parking spaces for both cars and buses, making access to the distillery far easier for visitors.
“This will obviously have benefits for both our customers and our distilling op-erations,” says Spalding. “And in addition, we no longer have huge clouds of dust drifting in from Wollondibby Road.”
The construction of the road was part of a larger project to upgrade the commercial production area of the distillery.
The local council included a condition that the section of road be sealed as part of that development application, says Spalding.
There were, however, numerous engineering and regulatory obstacles to overcome before construction could even begin, so engineer Tom Evans was hired to oversee the project for its duration.
“We had to redesign the layout of the existing road, as well as the location of car parking facilities,” says Spalding.
“This involved a huge amount of planning, and liaising with surveyors, construction crews and the council.”
While Evans was overseeing the engineering aspects of the project, Edwin Kraft managed the civil works, and Peter Burns and his team managed the survey work, Spalding says.
“We think the result is terrific and has really improved the whole appearance of the distillery grounds. Now we just wish those people using the road would slow down a bit.”
There is an official ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for June 2 at 4pm.
“We’ll be calling it our end-of-pothole party,” says Spalding.