Araluen Road residents given timeframe for new route

Since the first landslide at Knowles Creek in November 2020, council has undertaken extensive geotechnical surveying of the area and proposed a new route be constructed to bypass the area rather than fixing the current road which was unstable and vulnerable to future landslides.

At the meeting, council's director of infrastructure Warren Sharpe OAM said he had set a tentative date of Monday, July 5 to start work on the new road, and aimed for it to be built by Christmas.

"This timeframe is subject to various approvals and landowner agreements being achieved, but this new road will provide a much better long term solution for residents," Mr Sharpe said.

"Building the alternate route is an extensive piece of work in steep terrain, with almost 80,000 tonnes of earthworks required to construct the new 1.2 kilometre road."

Mr Sharpe said the timeframe had taken into account potential delays due to a wetter than average winter and spring ahead.

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The alternate route for residents via Mt Wandera will be maintained until the new road is opened and Mr Sharpe also flagged a route through the construction area could be established for residents within 12 weeks of works starting.

"We are really appreciative of the residents taking the time to chat to us, because it gave us the opportunity to outline the complexity of the many challenges on Araluen Road, and the ongoing risks if further rainfall occurs," he said.

"There are numerous other smaller landslide sites to be treated, dead trees still to be removed along the full route, gravel re-sheeting, drainage and other works to be done.

"Crews will be tasked to the west of the landslide in the coming weeks to do some additional drainage clearing and works aimed to mitigate some of the higher risks."

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Araluen Road resident Tricia Gardiner attended the meeting and said on the whole, residents were pleased with the outcome.

"We found the presentation regarding the Knowles Creek bypass solution most informative and helpful in understanding the difficulties associated with the planning and constructing of the bypass road," she said.

"For residents, it has been a very long eight months waiting for completion of geotechnical investigations, planning, design and relevant approvals prior to any actual work beginning on the ground.

"The Christmas time frame was a huge plus for us, as before this announcement residents had not been provided with any indication of the progress and there was no light at the end of the tunnel."

At the meeting, Mr Sharpe also explained the complexities of fixing the road at the 43 kilometre mark, the site of the second landslide in early May.

"At the 43 kilometre mark, the road is blocked by major landslides and will remain closed for the foreseeable future," he said.

"Public Works Advisory are being engaged to oversee the geotechnical investigations and designs of options to re-establish a road connection, a process which will take four to five months due to the complexity of the challenges at this site.

"It is unlikely the road will be re-opened before summer."

When pushed on an expected completion date for that section of the road, Mr Sharpe said he expected it would be "well inside two years from March 2021."

Yet questions remained about the financial impacts of the road closure and having to use the fire trails which caused significant wear and tear on resident's vehicles.

A resident asked about the possibility of rates reductions as a result of the financial loss.

Mr Sharpe said while council was unable to provide rate relief directly, it would write to the NSW government to seek assistance for residents.

"We will request the state government give consideration to covering the rates for those residents significantly impacted by the landslips on Araluen Road, similar to how significantly bushfire impacted residents were assisted," he said.

Council general manager Catherine Dale said more frequent updates would be sent to residents about the status of the road, to keep them informed about the progress.