Drivers urged to proceed with caution as Waterfall Way reopens

The vital route has been reopened after flooding caused a total of 17 landslips, but the coast is not clear just yet.

This drone image was taken as crews faced the challenging task of reopening Waterfall Way.

Waterfall Way has reopened earlier than anticipated, with crews having worked around the clock over Easter to help clean up a total of 17 landslips.

The slopes have been stabilised along this vital route using a technique called soil nailing – which uses nails of legendary proportions to help shore up the slips caused by recent wild weather.

Crews having been placing the nine-metre-long metal nails at Newell Falls located at the bottom of the range, and over the long weekend they’d worked to clear the last sections of the huge Myers Bluff slip.

The road between Bellingen and Dorrigo had been closed since Friday, March 19 after 500mm of rain caused five major slips and 12 minor.

“We know the importance of this road to local communities and visitors, so restoring access as quickly as we could has always been our priority,” Deputy Premier and Minister for Disaster Recovery, John Barilaro said.

A Bellingen Shire Council vehicle was damaged by one of the landslips on Waterfall Way.

“It’s been a challenging task … but we’ve had trucks hauling tonnes of material every day and crews carrying out geotechnical assessments and slip stability works.”

While Waterfall Way has reopened between Dorrigo and Bellingen, three sections are operating as single-lane under traffic control while clean up and remediation works continue.

Bellingen Shire Council has released a statement advising road users to only travel when it is necessary in order to minimise the impacts on the compromised section of road.

“There are limited resources available to address the significant number of defects present along Waterfall Way,” the statement reads.

Crews worked to open Waterfall Way again.

“Please note, the reopening of Waterfall Way, albeit under restricted traffic flows has been significantly brought forward due to work crews operating and managing multiple worksites in parallel since the road closure including working throughout the Easter long weekend and this week to ensure our community is provided with essential access along Waterfall Way.”

Waterfall Way is notorious for being cut off either due to landslips or – as the name suggests – waterfalls over the road.

David Forest, who has lived in Bellingen for nearly 30 years, told the Advocate he was worried about the impact of logging and how it can exacerbate flooding.

“The biggest concern here is the amount of water and silt flowing down from over-logging by the Forestry Corporation and private native logging up stream,” he said.

Waterfall Way at Dorrigo was cut off by the wild weather and floods.

“Here in Bellingen we know that intact forests slow water flow and release it over time.”

Transport for NSW and Council will continue to monitor the stretch of road, which they warn may need to be closed at short notice should more slips occur due to the ongoing wet weather.