Communities celebrate as Waterfall Way reopens

Residents at Dorrigo and father afield at Armidale and Tamworth can reconnect with Coffs Harbour as the main state road is back in business.

The lesser of two landslips which forced the closure of Waterfall Way west of Bellingen. The main link road between Coffs Harbour and Armidale reopened on Sunday.

Waterfall Way has reopened to traffic much to the relief of communities west of Coffs Harbour, none more so than the mountain top village of Dorrigo.

The main Coffs-Armidale link road has been out of action since late last month when torrential rain resulted in two landslides on the route.

The state road reopened to single-lane traffic west of Thora on Sunday.

Roads Minister Sam Farraway said crews from Transport for NSW, Bellingen Shire Council and specialist contractors worked tirelessly to clear fallen trees and thousands of tonnes of debris, restoring access to local communities and businesses.

“We know the importance of this route to local communities and visitors, so restoring access as quickly as we could, has always been our priority,” Mr Farraway said.

“It has been challenging but our crews have thrown everything at it to get it open again.”

Peter Mortimore, president of the Dorrigo Chamber of Commerce.

Dorrigo Chamber of Commerce president Peter Mortimore was among the first to travel, driving to Coffs Harbour on Monday.

“It’s (the road closure) had a massive impact on Dorrigo – on business and also on the frame of mind of locals,” he said.

The steep, windy road up the Great Dividing Range is as spectacular as it is notorious for sudden closure when foul weather strikes.

Mr Mortimore said he was thankful to government and Bellingen council for reopening the road relatively quickly, but added investment needs to be made in the alternate but still challenging Eastern Dorrigo Way.

“The fact is we’ve got an alternative. Let’s get that done so that emergency vehicles and milk trucks and the like can get through,” he said.

Mr Mortimore said access to Coffs Harbour was critical to the Dorrigo community – and also significant for the cities of Armidale and Tamworth, and towns as far away as Narrabri.

“We deserve access to the coast,” he said.

Newell Falls on Waterfall Way.

Member for Oxley, Melinda Pavey, said reopening the road near Thora was not the only piece of good news for Waterfall Way.

“Crews have now completed work at Myers Bluff and that section of road has reopened to two lanes,” Ms Pavey said.

“This section of Waterfall Way was damaged in the flooding of March 2021 and has been under single lane restrictions since then.

“The team is now confident the road is safe to open to two lanes of traffic, removing a pinch point in this corridor.”