Roundabout at top of hospital hill

Storms in February 2009 made the road to Bowraville impassable on the southern side of Bowra mountain.. Further storms at the end of March 2009 badly damaged the road between Spicketts creek and range road.

Three media releases from the State Government in 2009, made it clear that repairs would be funded from natural disaster sources and that the councils would not be required to contribute money for the restoration of the road.  

A process was started in 2009 which included reports from consultants, public meetings and culminating in a Value Management Workshop which was held on 14 December 2010.

The overwhelming recommendation from that meeting was that the road should be restored and reopened to continue the social, economic and cultural links between Bellingen and Bowraville.

The RTA outlined, at that meeting, the next steps in the process.

Councils were required to make a claim on the RTA for the funding from the Natural Disaster declaration  made by the State Government Minister  in 2009. These claims were submitted during January 2011

RTA would then write a report which would be submitted with the Councils' claims to the State Government for approval.

A number of options were  determined in the lead up to the Value Management Workshop - doing nothing was not one of the options.

There is concern that decisions may be further delayed by the timing of the State election in March 2011. Both the National and Greens parties have pledged their support for the restoration of the road.
  

bridge over Kalang river

Kalang river bridge

damage to river bank on north side of bridge

Mcphails bridge to Range road

The unsealed road begins at Mc Phails bridge about 12 kilometres south of Bellingen

After the storms in March 2009, Bellingen shire council carried out repairs using rocks to rebuild the road edge damaged by land slides. The road was regraded.

Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

Now in January 2011, a number of areas have developed  pot holes and these are listed below

Near the gate of Danny Simpson's property pot holes filled 3 March 11

Pot holes on the bends near the Doyle's and the Payne's properties

pot holes filles 3 March 11 

Between "Jumping Dog" and Range road.

warning road half closed

The term "northern zone" refers to the damaged sections of the Bowraville road north of Spicketts Creek, for which natural disaster funding is required.

Road regraded 12/13 April 2011 

Warning of the problems ahead are shown by  the following photograph

 

click on map to enlarge

map of damaged sections of road prepared by GHD

The photographs that follow show the most damaged corners, which are the "inner" corners where storm water was funnelled  down to the road to pass through concrete drains under the road, to continue the downhill flow. The amount of water and mud was too great for the drains and spewed across the road and the road edge collapsed.

Following a storm on the night of 1 March 2011, many trees were brought down. Local property owners cut a way through to allow Spickett Creek residents to get home that night.

Council cleared the road on Thursday 3 March 2011,  for which the Spickett Creek residents are very grateful. 

south of Williams road

Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

This tree is located about 100 metres south of Williams road, on the edge of Bowraville road .

 

Dents valley corners

Dents valley corner north - 0.5 kilometres south of Williams road.

Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

Travelling south

Travelling north, the corner has safety markers which make a tight corner, forcing vehicles to the right.

Note: there is a blind corner about 40 metres past the pegged corner. If two vehicles meet at this point, there is only one lane!

Road widening was carried out in June 2009 by Bellingen shire council to create a single lane, with some safety margin away from the crumbling edge of the road.

rocks on road

Rocks on the road  28 April 2011

fallen rock

damaged cliff

Dents Valley south  - 0.6 kilometres south of Williams road

Travelling south

close up of road on the corner.

Note: the tyre track is only 300mm from the road drop off.

The concrete at the edge of the road was installed to support a concrete drain after a hole appeared in the road.  

The same corner but driving north.

After the rain, the unwary would keep to the left  to avoid the puddle and go very close to the edge!


















The recommended solution for reconstructing corners involving water flows  are concrete splashways

concrete splashway on Basin road in Jaaingaa Nature Reserve

Dangerous trees - Northern zone

 

There are many fallen trees on Forest NSW land above the road in the northern zone.

The following is a letter from the CEO of ForestNSW and in an article in the Coffs Advocate on Wednesday 26 January 2011, it is stated that Bellingen Shire Council is following up to get these dangerous trees removed.

Twin blackbutt corner

0.8 metres south of Williams road Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

Telephone pole 356 corner

0.9 metres south of Williams road Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

cliff falls corner

cliff falls corner - 1.0 kilometre south of Williams road Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

Note: There is no drain at this corner and the storm water runs along the side of the road to the next corner to cross the road.

Photo taken on 8 October 2011 travelling north - usable road is only 2.5 metres wide as inside washes away.

cycad corner

cycad corner - 1.1 kilometres south of Williams road Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

 

 

This photo was taken a year ago. Now the road has deep ruts.

Driving north into Cycad corner in the rain in 2009

Now the grass and weeds have grown up and the edge is not as clearly defined, and therefore the road is more dangerous

lone blackbutt corner

lone blackbutt corner - 1.15 kilometres south of Williams road Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

lone palm corner

lone palm corner - 1.2 kilometres from Williams road Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

The days after the storms which struck on 31 March 2009

 

Funding for rebuild of road $10 million natural disaster funding - 29 May 2009

double click to enlarge

border post

border post - 1.3 kilometres south of Williams road

 

This post marks the boundary between Bellingen shire and Nambucca shire councils.

When the road was maintained as a regional road, Bellingen shire graded the road from Bellingen to this point.

When the NSW state government withdrew regional road status from the Bellingen/Bowraville road on 29 May 2009, this was the place that corresponded with the distances proclaimed in the media release documents as the boundary between the two shires.

Note that the decision date of 29 May 2009 was three months after the storms that caused the closure of the road.

There is differing opinions from state government departments about the exact location of the boundary. However Bellingen Council have accepted responsibility for the repair of the Northern zone, when natural disaster funds are provided to carry out the work. 

Rainbow over Alinda's house

border post to Noonannie

The entrance to the property called "Noonannie" is 1.2 kilometres south of the border post. Within this area  are the entrances to 6 properties.

Road regraded 12/13 April 2011

This section of the road was  graded in June 2010.

Nambucca shire Council had declared that the northern zone was too dangerous for council staff to work on, so that they could not send their standard grader to  clear the gutters and shape the road. By the middle of 2010, some 16 months after the road closure, they decided to send in a contractor with a light grader.

The contractor did a very good job, but now after 7 months, the same problems of blocked drains and channels in the road are appearing.

blocked drain forcing water back onto the road

Following a storm on Tuesday 1 Marh 2011, many trees were brought down, damaging telephone lines and blocking the road. On Thursday 3 March 2011, Council cleared the road and scraped it to cover the "water course" developing in the centre of the road.  

The report from the Value Management Workshop states in the workshop outcomes

"it was noted that the highest weighted assessment criteria as determined unanimously by the workshop group was the "Ability" to respond to life threatening situations".

If fire closes the road, or trees fall across the road during a fire, there is no way out for the residents living in this area. see sidebar for page on emergency support

modified  2 February 2011 

Noonannie to the Southern Zone

From Noonannie the road continues up to the damaged section defined as the "southern zone".

According to Nambucca shire council records there are 8 properties in this area.

None are occupied.

More information is being sought on the hopes and plans of the people who own these properties.

Southern zone

The southern zone is located from Bowra mountain and to the south.

to add more photographs of the southern section please email treeferns@westnet.com.au 

damage in February 2009 on the southern side of Bowra mounjtain

 

The road as it is now in February 2011 at Bowra mountain, two years later

Bowraville

The connection between Bowraville and Bellingen has been continuous for 160 years.

The Value Management workshop in December 2010 recognised the cultural links to the road, including the Aboriginal heritage connection to the road as "it was part of the journey of hope", when women had to walk the road to have their babies at Bellingen hospital 

The  current Bellingen/Bowraville road was not the first road connecting the two towns and the tab at the top of the blog includes a paper on the history of the road.

If you would like to add photographs or information to this blog, please email treefern@westnet.com.au.

Also on the tab bar  at the top of the blog, you can find an economic case for the restoration  and the benefits of local spending