Four sections of road, from Link Rd to the Nambucca Heads CBD, have received pavement restoration, realignment and been resealed over the course of the past six years.

Assistant General Manager Engineering Services Paul Gallagher said they used available funding from council's budget each year to get as much work done as they could. But with a $5 million price tag, it was necessary to chop the project into affordable-sized chunks.

"Council was lucky to secure a $5 million grant when we upgraded Riverside Dr, which meant we could do it all in one go," Mr Gallagher said.

"But for this project, we've had to space it out and do sections as money permitted."

For the past two months there's been a traffic diversion in place via Palmer St while work is being done on the retaining wall near the water tower.

Council staff have now finished the curb and gutter and are currently working to place the remaining internal planks in the retaining wall.

They've also installed a pedestrian island in between the service centre and the roundabout to stop the mad dash in front of traffic.

And crews have just finished repairing and painting the roundabout and the island and curbs near Link St to "freshen" the presentation of the street.

Mr Gallagher said as soon as the wall is up, roadworks will start on that curve around the water tower up to and including the intersection of Palmer St.

He has put an August deadline on those contracted roadworks being completed.

And within the next year the intersection of Mann and Bent St (near the servo), and the roundabout, will both get a bit of proper attention - completing the length of road between Link Rd and the CBD.

Unfortunately the council's plans to seal Mann St with a compound made out of recycled materials didn't materialise last year.

"The transport of the Plastiphalt from near Lismore became uneconomical," Mr Gallagher said.

But Mr Gallagher said he's currently in negotiations with Boral, Coffs Harbour, to use a recycled glass compound asphalt for the upcoming sections of road along Mann St, and possibly Wellington Dr too.

"We'll get our recycled road component somehow," he said.

It's pretty hard to drive along Mann St without noticing the landscaping work that's been taking shape.

That work is also part of the long-term upgrade to improve the presentation of the main entrance into Nambucca Heads.

Mr Gallagher said native tree species have been planted to stabilise the banks, and "take some of the starkness" out of the roadscape.

Council has contracted local man Steve Dibbens and his crew from Generation Green to mulch and plant out the steep banks.

There has already been concern in the community that the mulch will wash away at the next significant rain event.

But Steve, who has been doing this work for over a decade, said his team has cut a key into the bank which is proven to work well in holding the mulch on the sharp incline.

"Of course, I work with nature, which is pretty difficult to control. But this method has worked well for us in the past," he said.

They were out there this morning in the drizzle planting out native grasses - themeda, 'lime tuff' lomandra, and microlaena - which will eventually work to maintain the integrity of the bank.

And after they're finished there, they'll be heading to Link St to do some more planting.

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