New South Wales, News, Road upgrades

Repairs begin to landslip site on Snowy Mountains Highway

Work will begin next week to repair the largest of nine landslip sites on the Snowy Mountains Highway at Brown Mountain.

Work will be carried out from Monday, April 8, about 800 metres west of the Brown Mountain Power Station, to repair significant damage caused by severe weather events in 2022.

The work will take about 20 weeks to complete.

The $2.6 million project is being funded by the Australian and NSW governments. Image: Jenny Aitchison MP

The $2.6 million project is being funded by the Australian and NSW governments, through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

Transport for NSW has appointed specialist ground engineering contractors, Piling & Concreting Australia (PCA), to repair the landslip damage and fully restore the road at this location.

PCA will drill and install more than three kilometres of seven-metre-long steel rods, known as soil nails, to anchor the section of failed slope before applying a layer of spray-on concrete to prevent further erosion.

Work has been planned to keep traffic moving as an important link between the ACT and South Coast while also ensuring the safety of motorists and workers.

The repair work will be carried out with large machinery and workers operating in an area about as wide as a standard single car garage to repair a site about the size of a suburban house block, which creates some unique challenges and risks.

For this reason, a 200-metre section of the highway will be reduced to a single lane, with temporary barriers and traffic lights in place 24 hours for the duration of the work.

In addition to this latest work, contracts are expected to be finalised soon for more repairs to be carried out this year at another three landslips on Brown Mountain.

Tenders are also being assessed for a site about one-and-a-half kilometres east of the Fred Piper Memorial Lookout that has been limited to a single lane due to the extensive damage on the road.

During the repair work, motorists are advised to allow an extra five minutes to travel times and drive to the conditions.

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