Council’s road crews and contractors are set to turn their focus to more permanent repairs of the Tweed’s damaged road network as emergency works to reconnect isolated communities near completion.
Since the February flood, and again during last week’s deluge, crews have been working hard to restore access to 62 isolated communities in the Tweed Shire, many cut off as a result of landslips and roads and bridges that washed away.
Three communities remain isolated this week, including residents at Commissioners Creek Road, Manns Road at Rowlands Creek and Snake Gully Road at Upper Burringbar, with another 6 communities having restricted access. Council will continue to work alongside other agencies to ensure supplies and medical assistance are available until access is restored for these people.
Council’s Director Engineering David Oxenham, who has been leading Council’s flood response, said the focus would now turn to more permanent repairs of other roads across the Tweed.
“Until now, our focus has been to ensure the safety of isolated communities mainly in remote areas of the Tweed,” Mr Oxenham said.
“With emergency works and the road clean-up nearing completion, our crews can now focus on more permanent repairs of our damaged roads.
“We have engaged multiple contractors to get as many repairs done as quickly as possible to help the community get back to some kind of normality. More than 1,900 repair jobs have been logged as a result of the flooding events, and crews will be out and about at various locations across the Tweed over the coming months to tackle this workload.”
Permanent repairs started this week on Tweed Valley Way, between Riverside Drive north and Riverside Drive south at Tumbulgum, which suffered significant damage during the floods.
Nightworks will be undertaken from 7 pm to 5 am and may take up to 2 weeks to complete, weather permitting. One lane of Tweed Valley Way will be closed to allow crews to work safely within the roadway. Traffic controllers will be on site to direct traffic flow. Please follow safety signs and messages boards.
Access to some properties or driveways may be restricted during these nightworks. Please seek assistance from the stop/slow flagmen if required.
Materials removed from these roadworks will be taken to Quirks Quarry on Eviron Road. It is anticipated trucks will be transporting material between 7 pm and 12 midnight using the following routes:
northern route will be via Cudgen Road
southern route will be via Clothiers Creek Road.
Permanent repair works are also underway on Stokers Road at Stokers Siding, Carool Road at Carool and Kyogle Road at Terragon.
Mr Oxenham said engineering assessments were already underway at the larger and more complex road damages, including landslips at Scenic Drive, Reserve Creek Road and Tyalgum Road, but while these tasks are necessary, permanent construction works at those locations are still some way from starting.
“In the meantime we will focus on the large number of repairs that don’t require significant engineering,” he said.
“As a result, residents may notice some damages are fixed as a crew works through a road and other damages are left for another time.”
Over the next 2 months, contractors will be undertaking less complex repairs on the following roads, with additional roads to be added as recovery works progress:
- Stokers Road, Stokers Siding (starting 6 April)
- Bakers Road, Byangum
- McConnells Road, Dunbible
- Nolans Road, Stokers Siding
- Cane Road, Tygalgah
- Chinderah Bay Drive, Chinderah
- Clothiers Creek Road, Clothiers Creek
- Cudgen Road, Stotts Creek
- Duranbah Road, Duranbah
- Eviron Road, Eviron
- Hattons Road, Eviron
- Loders Road, Duranbah
- McCollums Road, Cudgen
- Melaleuca Road, Duranbah
- Plantation Road, Cudgen
- Riverside Drive, Tumbulgum
- Rosewood Avenue, Bogangar
- Tamarind Avenue, Bogangar
- Tweed Valley Way, Tumbulgum (nightworks started 4 April)
- Bilambil Road, Bilambil Heights
- Carool Road, Carool (started 5 April)
- Dulguigan Road, Dulguigan
- Glengarrie Road, Glengarrie
- Hogans Road, Upper Duroby
- McAuleys Road, Terranora
- Urliup Road, Urliup
These roads will remain open, however minimal traffic delays are to be expected.
“We apologise for any inconvenience and ask for your patience as we work towards more permanent repairs,” Mr Oxenham said.
“Where the roads are closed, please don’t remove or tamper with closure signs or barriers. It’s a serious offence and could result in someone being hurt or killed.”
Council’s standard procedure is to notify affected residents and businesses of planned works via a letterbox drop. However, in the interest of expediency, this may not be possible during these flood repair works and updates will continue to be made online via Council’s website and MyRoadInfo.
