Dangling rock forces closure of major highway
Students and teachers have been offered a lifeline after the sudden closure of the Tasman Highway left them in the dark over school transit. VIDEO + LATEST ON THE TASMAN HWY CLOSURE >>
Tasmania
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Students and teachers left in the dark over the closure of the Tasman Highway can breathe a sigh of relief. The Department of Education will set up a satellite school at the Buckland Hall from June 7 for anyone unable to access Triabunna District or Orford Primary School.
Principal Jamie Harwood sent an email to parents advising students that while the satellite school is being arranged they can either attend Sorell School or participate in ‘Learning from Home’ during the next week.
In the meantime Buckland mother, Kiki Dowling, has chosen to homeschool her five-year-old son, El, who is a student at Orford Primary. “The teacher will visit him one day next week just to see how he goes with his homework.” Although Ms Dowling is glad the road is finally being looked at she thinks more notice should have been given to residents. “The school could have prepared Buckland Halls a few weeks ago so it would have been ready for the kids to use straight away.”
A bus service will also be arranged for the students’ transport.
East Coast to struggle between a rock and a hard place
RESIDENTS in Orford and Triabunna have been left reeling following the shock announcement of the Tasman Highway’s closure.
Hotel bookings have been cancelled, staff have been left without a route to work and parents may need to homeschool their children.
Infrastructure and Transport Minister Michael Ferguson has defended the government’s handling of the closure, which will stop traffic from 11.55pm Friday.
“From the outset, I want to say that this is an important safety measure that the government has moved on within a day of receiving the advice that we needed to urgently close the highway and allow contractors to remove the 60 tonnes of rock which are dangerous,” he said.
It’s expected to reopen anywhere between two to seven weeks’ time, tripling locals’ usual hour-long travel time to Hobart or leaving them to take a gravel road. For people requiring urgent medical treatment like Triabunna local Jay Baulch’s wife, it’s a major issue.
“My wife has a severe back injury so if we have to take her down to the hospital we have to go the long way there because the Wielangta route is way too rocky and could be dangerous,” he said.
Rollers and excavators were out in force on Thursday afternoon grading Wielangta Rd, which the RACT is urging Tasmanian drivers to avoid for safety reasons. The motoring body is instead advising motorists to take the detour through Lake Leake Rd via Campbell Town to get to and from Hobart – a more than three-hour drive.
Glamorgan Spring Bay Mayor Robert Young was told of the news on Tuesday and was warning local business owners at Triabunna.
“I knew there was a chance for a long-term closure so I thought that people who were involved in business ought to know,” Cr Young said.
Licensee of Orford’s Blue Water Hotel Alan Burdon said he was waiting for an influx of cancellations.
“We heard rumours and then all of a sudden, bang, here it is. It will affect our room bookings, our meal bookings,” he said
“I still think they should put it off now and give people a chance to prepare properly. Obviously with Covid we’ve suffered a fair bit, this is the last thing we needed.”
Although they are now faced with little other choice but to homeschool their son, who will no longer be able to catch the bus into Orford State School, Buckland residents Tony and Kiki Dowling are glad the stretch of highway is finally being looked at.
“We drive that road daily and always joke about that one boulder falling. It’s about time something was done,” Ms Dowling said.
Mr Dowling said he’s had concerns about the road for quite some time.
“Back in April last year they had to shut it because of a rock fall during wet weather and the road barriers on the left next to the water aren’t stable on the bitumen. It needed to be fixed,” Mr Dowling said.
Labor member for Lyons Jen Butler called on the state government to explain the timeline of the highway’s closure, saying residents were left in the dark. “Labor supports these necessary works to keep members of the community safe, however questions the timing and advice to the community,” she said.
Workers caught out by closure
LIKE many residents in the small town of Triabunna, owner of J & N Car Care Jay Baluch was “furious” to hear of the sudden closure of the Tasman Highway, comparing the situation to an event with the same magnitude as Covid.
“Bottom line is, all businesses in this area are going to suffer,” he said.
Mr Baluch’s new apprentice Zachery McEwan will be impacted by the changes, commuting to work from Midway Point.
“I’ve been here for four weeks now and the drive alone has been close to an hour each morning,” Mr McEwan said. “I’m pretty much doing 12-hour days and this chucked into the mix could increase it to 14.”
Mr McEwan also was not confident about taking the alternative route via Wielangta Rd – a journey that the RACT is urging motorists not to drive for safety reasons.
“The road is pretty rough and I don’t have a big 4WD. Some days when it’s wet I might not even be able to come in and fulfil my duties,” he said.
Concerned about available medical care locally, Mr Baluch has even arranged accommodation at Triabunna for their doctor that lives out of town.
“He’s had to commute up here as well so we’ve actually offered our B&B to him so he can stay and we have a doctor in the community,” he said.
Commute times to almost triple with Highway closure
THE Tasman Highway would be closed near Orford for several weeks from Friday night because of the risk of a major rockfall, Premier Peter Gutwein says.
Routine drone inspections had raised concerns about a 60 tonne rock hanging out over the highway around 1.5 kilometres from Orford.
Wet and cold weather forecast for the coming days had brought forward works to ensure the rocks did not pose a risk to public safety, the Premier said.
The Tasman Highway would be closed in both directions from midnight Friday for a period of several weeks, the state government said.
“The Department of State Growth has been monitoring the stability of rocks above the Tasman Highway at Paradise Gorge near Orford,” Mr Gutwein said.
“They have received expert advice that there’s a need to work swiftly and remove rock to manage the risk of a major rockfall.
“While the advice is that roads currently safe to travel on today, there was a need to commence work swiftly with adverse weather and frost forecast for this coming weekend.”
Mr Gutwein said motorists would need to use alternative routes and planning was underway to ensure contingencies were in place for emergency services operations.
Deputy Secretary for Transport and Infrastructure Gary Swain said routine inspections had revealed the risks.
“It’s a very unusual situation. We’re looking at this point at using airbags to leverage the rocks off the face and then to drop them down to the road, we’re just looking at how we might protect the road from that impact,” he said.
The first column has about 60 tonnes of rock. So it’s a significant body of rock and there might be more.
“The rock that we’re looking at is on 20 degree angle hanging over the top of the road and the advice we’ve got is a higher risk of falling in certain weather conditions, including ice and cold temperatures and heavy rainfall — which is what we’re heading for this weekend.”
RACT Chief Advocacy Officer Garry Bailey said safety must come first with any road closure.
“The government’s quick action was the only course to take but it does mean significant dislocation for East Coast residents,” he said.
“It will also mean that some drivers will take longer journeys on unfamiliar roads, one of which is gravel, so that raises another significant safety issue,” he said.
An Orford shack owner who regularly travels the road said he had been concerned about the issue for several years.” Myself and a few companions travel that highway regularly through Paradise Gorge are always aware of that rock formation,’’ he said.” Obviously it’s become a serious issue all of a sudden. Something should have been done about it long before.” It’s been a major concern and the people I’ve talked to, they look at it regularly with the hope that it’s not going to come down on them.”
There are only two alternative routes to the East Coast from southern Tasmania – the unsealed Weilangta Rd between Orford and Copping and the Midland Highway and Lake Leake Highway which joins the Tasman Highway ten kilometres north of Swansea.
Currently it takes an average of 65 minutes from Hobart to Orford via the Tasman Highway.
Travelling from Hobart to Orford via Weilangta Road will take on average 90 minutes.
Hobart to Orford via the via Midland Highway to Campbell Town, then Lake Leake Rd and Tasman Highway to Orford will take three hours and ten minutes on average.
Travel times from Hobart to Swansea will increase from one hour and 45 minutes to
two hours and 30 minutes via the Midland Highway, Campbell Town and Lake Leake Highway.
And travel time from Hobart to Bicheno will increase from two hours and 20 minutes to two hours and 50 minutes via the Midland Highway and Lake Leake Highway.
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