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