Susanna Freymark
The road closed signs either side of the landslip on Naughtons Gap Road were removed today, Friday, December 6.
It’s been a long time coming — and it was fitting that the first two cars through on the new road were Paul Connolly’s 1953 FJ Holden and a 1950 Bedford.
The colours of the vintage cars were in stark contrast to the creamy scar of the landslip that can be seen from across the valley.
How it looks doesn’t matter — the road has been out of action for almost three years because of a landslip that started in 2021, and then was severely worsened in the 2022 floods.
Grace Rambaldini-Gooding was born at Naughtons Gap and she lives in an original homestead the Bentley side of the landslip. A trip to Casino took more than half an hour because drivers had to divert around the landslip. Today, It’s back to a 10 minutes drive into Casino.
”We walked down this road to school when it was gravel,” Grace said.
The engineers, contractors, designers and council staff celebrated the opening.
Tom Rayner from CMC who led the landslip repairs has worked in the Northern Rivers for 25 years and knows the lay of the land.
Drones were used to understand the landscape and cause of movement. The design was crucial in building something that would last, he said.
There are 150 concrete piles placed 11—14 metres deep into the earth.
This landslip was not going to move again. It cost $15.8million funded by the government to repair the landslip
Richmond Valley Council general manager Vaughan Macdonald said the site was an issue before the floods, back in 2021.
The council did a report on that landslip and secured $3million funding from the government.
”It’s been three and a half years since it first cracked,” Mr Macdonald said.
Before the road could be fixed, the floods hit and the earth moved. The road was impassable.
”There’s 2500 cubic metres of concrete under that road to make sure it isn’t going anywhere,” he said.
“In 50 years time, the road won’t have moved an inch.”
Mr Rayner said it was an exciting project to work on.
The goal was to make a permanent fix for this tricky location.
State MP and Parliamentary secretary for Disaster Recovery Janelle Saffin said it was important to build back better.
”It saves time and money in the long term,” she said.
Her electorate of Lismore had 156 landslips to deal with after the floods and 80 of them were critical.
The CMC team heads to Plains Station Road, near Tabulam, for the next landslip job.
And Naughtons Gap Road residents can enjoy the thoroughfare and quick trip into town.
The project to repair the road to a more resilient standard was jointly funded through Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements and is the first Regional Roads and Transport Recovery Package project started and completed.
