Crossover Rules in Latrobe City and East Gippsland Shire

Both councils want a permit approved before any work starts on the crossover, and both will inspect it. The detail differs between them, so the first thing to sort out is which council you're actually under before you get anyone to quote.

We've already covered Wellington Shire in a separate piece. This one is for the Latrobe City and East Gippsland Shire jobs, which is Traralgon, Morwell, Moe and Churchill on one side, and Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance, Paynesville and Orbost on the other.

What a crossover actually is

The crossover is the bit between the road and your property boundary. It crosses the nature strip and the footpath, so it sits on council land, not yours. That's the whole reason there's a permit at all.

Your driveway starts at the boundary and runs up to the garage. That part is yours and doesn't need council approval, though it usually gets poured in the same visit.

The order things have to happen in

1. Work out which council you're under, and whether your frontage is a council road or a main road
2. Apply for the crossover permit with your plan and dimensions
3. Wait for approval. Don't book a pour date before this
4. Council may inspect the site or the excavation before the pour
5. Build it to the approved detail
6. Final inspection, and the crossover is signed off

The mistake I see most is booking concrete first and paperwork second. If the permit takes longer than expected, you lose your slot and the job slides.

Latrobe City

Latrobe City runs a vehicle crossing permit process for anything new or altered. They publish standard drawings for how a crossing has to be built, and the approval is given against those.

Things they'll be looking at: the width for the property type, the grade so vehicles don't bottom out, where it sits relative to power poles, pits, street trees and the corner if you're on one, and how water crosses it.

Fees and current forms change, so get them from Latrobe City's own vehicle crossing page rather than taking a number off any article, including this one.

East Gippsland Shire

East Gippsland Shire works the same way in principle, with its own application and its own standard drawings. Same idea, different paperwork and different specifics.

Worth knowing for this area: a lot of East Gippsland frontages are rural or semi-rural, which brings in table drains and culverts. If there's an open drain along your frontage, the crossover has to get across it without blocking the flow, and that usually means a pipe sized by the council. That's a different job to a suburban crossover in Bairnsdale, and it prices differently.

Again, take the current requirements from East Gippsland Shire directly.

If your frontage is a main road

Some roads through Traralgon and along the highway corridor are managed by the state rather than the council. If yours is one of them, the approval goes through the state road authority instead, and it's a longer process with more attention to sight lines and turning movements.

You'll know pretty quickly, because the council will tell you it's not theirs. Allow more time if that's you.

What gets a crossover knocked back at inspection

• Wrong width for the property type, either too narrow or wider than approved
• Grade too steep, so cars scrape coming in off the road
• Poor sight lines, usually on a corner or near a crest
• Water blocked or redirected across the footpath
• Built to a different position or spec than the approved plan
• Damage to the kerb, a street tree or a service pit during the works

A knock-back is expensive, because the fix is usually breaking it out and doing it again. This is the main reason I want to see the approved plan before we pour rather than after.

Who does what

The permit is in the property owner's name, so the application is yours to lodge. I'm not the applicant and I can't be.

What I do is give you the dimensions and detail you need for the application, build it to whatever gets approved, be there for the inspections, and tell you straight away if what's on the plan doesn't work with what's actually on the ground. If something needs to change, that goes back to council before we pour, not after.

Get the timing right

Start the permit well before you want the concrete done. Approval times vary and neither council is going to hurry because you've booked a truck.

If you want a hand working out what your frontage needs, book a site visit and I'll come and look at it with you. Or call me.