Nails of legendary proportions are being used to help shore up the series of huge landslips

Nails of legendary proportions are being used to help shore up the series of huge landslips on the Waterfall Way.

Working to open Waterfall Way again. It's a challenging task with narrow road space to operate machinery and the potential for new land slips and falling trees.

Nails of legendary proportions are being used to help shore up the series of huge landslips on the Waterfall Way.

Crews are working around the clock over the Easter long weekend to clean up the slips caused by wild weather on the road between Dorrigo and Bellingen and restore access.

Workers are making the most of the favourable conditions before more rain is forecast to hit the region in coming days.

More than 500mm of rain fell during the severe weather event, closing the road from Friday March 19.

The drenching resulted in five major landslips and 12 minor slips along the key stretch of road.

The road is notorious, see a video from December 2020:

Some of the largest slips are on sections where the embankment is up to 30 metres high, covering up to 100 metres along the road, with multiple trucks removing tonnes of material every day.

A technique called soil nailing is being used to safely stabilise the slips and get the road reopened as soon as possible.

“Right now, we’re inserting 120 nine-metre-long metal ‘nails’ to help stabilise the Newell Falls area, located at the bottom of the range,” Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole said

“It’s a challenging task with narrow road space to operate machinery and the potential for new land slips and falling trees.

“I know this is an important route for locals and I thank them for their ongoing patience as our crews work hard to stabilise the slope before we can look to re-open the road.”

Working to open Waterfall Way again. It's a challenging task with narrow road space to operate machinery and the potential for new land slips and falling trees.

Member for Oxley Melinda Pavey said the community spirit of the Mid North Coast shone through in the response to the aftermath of the flooding.

“We currently have Bellingen Shire Council crews working in collaboration with a number of contractors and other staff from both Council and Transport for NSW,” Mrs Pavey said.

“These crews are making great progress and will work throughout the Easter holiday period in order to take advantage of the current favourable weather conditions.”

Working to open Waterfall Way again. It's a challenging task with narrow road space to operate machinery and the potential for new land slips and falling trees.

Restricted access is being provided to emergency services and those vehicles required to restore essential water, sewer and power services.

It is expected the road will be reopened with some single-lane restrictions between Dorrigo and Bellingen by mid, to late next week.

For the latest traffic updates, download the Live Traffic NSW App, visit livetraffic.com or call 132 701.