Millions for Tyalgum Rd

By Jonathon Howard

GOOD NEWS for Tyalgum residents and businesses this week with the awarding of a $16-million contract to SEE Civil who over the next 12 months or so, will design and repair the Tyalgum Road landslip.

A further $4 million will go towards additional costs on the project, such as land acquisition and site work, bringing the total cost of the Tyalgum Road landslip to a record $20 million.

Design work is expected to take until late May to complete and work is expected to start on-site around the same time.

The funds are being provided by the state government via its Disaster Recovery Grant program, which is being forward funded to aid the Tweed’s recovery.

The bad news is a service road, which will allow traffic to flow again for the first time since the February flood of 2022, will most likely be opened in the last quarter of 2023 — hopes are for September.

The project, pending weather and unforeseen circumstances, is expected to reopened in early 2024.

Speaking with The Weekly on-site, SEE Civil construction manager Rob Blyth said he was hopeful to have the service road open by September 2023 under a best-case scenario.

“However, there could be some unforeseen issues under the landslip that we have not accounted for at this stage,” he said.

“But our hope is to have the service road open as soon as possible, or by the last quarter of 2023.”

Additional work on Limpinwood Road, which will remain Tyalgum’s primary access route, will also commence in May.

Mr Blyth said the landslip will require around 200 concrete piles to be drilled down to around 30 metres to prevent further slips on the 100-metre stretch of unstable road.

The landslip section may also need to deviate inland, and Council is working with the landholder on any possible land acquisitions once the final design is made available.

Mr Blyth said the Tyalgum Road tender would be one of the company’s largest landslip projects ever undertaken, but he’s confident in his team’s ability.

“We deal with many large projects, but in terms of landslips of this nature, Tyalgum Road is one of the biggest,” he said.

“We will have a team of around 16 workers on-site throughout the project using heavy machinery to drill down and stabilise the site.”

Mr Blyth said the company was acutely aware of the need to get Tyalgum Road open as soon as possible.

Mayor Chris Cherry said the announcement represents a significant milestone in the shire’s recovery.

“I know the Tyalgum community has been frustrated by the time it has taken to get to this stage, and I thank them for their patience,” she said.

“Now we have this contract in place, SEE Civil will be able to continue the process of designing and working on restoring our road network in a manner that will make it more resilient and able to better deal with the challenges of future natural disasters and climate change.”