The NSW Government is forging ahead with plans to repair and restore multiple landslips along Jenolan Caves Road, following severe flooding earlier this year.
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Minister for Regional Transport and Roads and Member for Bathurst Paul Toole said crews have completed initial safety work to provide limited access through Two Mile and Hampton, however there remains a large task ahead.
"To put the damage to Jenolan Caves Road at Five Mile into perspective, we have never seen a road failure of this size in NSW before," Mr Toole said.
"The task for our engineers is enormous and incredibly complex given sections of the slope above and below road level have been completely eroded away.
"It is easy to think that this is simple work, but in reality it can be very dangerous and difficult to do safely, and we can't know exactly what needs to be done in some sections until we can safely access each slip.
"Despite the work ahead of them, our crews are working hard every day to bring the road back to pre-flood condition as soon as possible.
"A tender is currently out for the design and repair of a small slope failure at the top of the Five Mile which, when complete, will allow vital machinery and equipment to access to the main slope failure further down the road.
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"Work to this small slope failure is expected to commence in early 2022 and will take approximately eight weeks, weather permitting.
"Once we have access to the major slope, specialist engineers will then carry out geotechnical investigations at the main failure site. We are looking at a number of options however we do know that the project design will be complex and construction will take an extended period of time."
At Two Mile, design work is underway for the slope between Carpark One and Caves House, with construction due to commence in early 2022 and take 8 weeks, weather permitting.
At Hampton, crews have completed work to the upslope - using mesh, shotcrete and rock bolts - to allow the current single lane of traffic to pass through.
Tenders for the geotechnical investigation and project design of the down slope are expected to be awarded by the end of the year.
This section of road is expected to be restored to pre-flood conditions and the road reopened to two lanes in late 2022.
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