$15 million dollar road opens after landslide

SAMANTHA ELLEY

It’s been over three years in the waiting for residents around Naughtons Gap, since the landslide in March 2021, caused by heavy rainfalls that closed Naughtons Gap Road.

Thanks to funding of up to $15.8 million from the State government, however, long detours to Casino or Lismore are now a thing of the past.

Gracie RambaldiniGooding was born and bred in the area and still lives in the house she was brought up in.

“I’ve lived here lots and lots and lots of years,” she laughed.

“I went to school down here; we used to walk down this road when it was gravel.”

Gracie knows what it is like to be inconvenienced with the road closed.

“I had to go through Manifold Road or Springrove Road which put an extra 25 to 30 minutes on the road and now it’s developed a lot more potholes, so you can only crawl along,” she said.

“Whereas, with our road open here it takes 10-15 minutes to get into town into Casino and 20-25 minutes to Lismore.

“It will now be back to normal.”

Offcial heads, those who worked on the road and neighbours, gathered last Friday to formally open the road and celebrate the long fgurative journey that has been travelled to get it back to normal.

“This road is a vital link for our community,” said Richmond Valley mayor Robert Mustow.

“We’ve had a lot of fak over the last 3-4 years to ‘get the bloody thing open’.

“It wasn’t that easy but now we have a $15 million job done on a fat section of road.

“Anywhere else in the local government area would cost about $800,000 for a kilometre, this was 300 metres at $15 million which shows the enormity of the job.”

To understand the scale of the task, Richmond Valley Council General Manager, Vaughan MacDonald said this short stretch of road contained 2,500 cubic metres of concrete under it, to make sure it goes nowhere.

“We’ve got it documented on video,” he said.

“It really does show how, hopefully, in 50 years time it won’t have moved an inch.”

Casino car enthusiasts Paul and Allie Connolly brought two of their vintage cars to be the frst to drive over the new stretch of road, adding to the festivity of the day.

“Richmond Valley Council deserves commendation for recognising the value of the new disaster recovery program and acting quickly on it, said NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Recovery and Lismore MP, Janelle Saffn.

“They have achieved value for money and, most importantly, have improved access for the roughly 1000 motorists who were using this road each day before the March 2021 landslip.”