Major Step Forward in Tweed Flood Restoration

Flood restoration works on Kyogle Road between Uki and Byangum Bridge reached a signifcant milestone with their completion just before Christmas, bringing relief to the Uki community and holiday motorists. This achievement marks a crucial advance in Tweed’s ongoing food restoration program, which will continue into 2025. An event celebrating the milestone was held on-site earlier today.

The extensive damage to Kyogle Road occurred in late February 2022, when the Tweed River unleashed a path of destruction, causing three major landslips and washing away a signifcant section of Mount Warning Road. The road was reduced to a single lane in several places, and a temporary track had to be created on Mount Warning Road to maintain access.

To restore the damaged sites, contractor CMC was engaged for a $47 million project, funded by the Australian and NSW Governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).

The restoration work not only aimed to repair the road to its pre-food condition but also incorporated riparian restoration measures to enhance the ecological resilience of the riverbanks. These measures included the installation of timber pin rows at selected locations along the Tweed River for additional protection.

Restoration work began in February 2024 and was completed ahead of schedule. The project involved extensive construction efforts, requiring 11,200 tonnes of armour rock, 3,445 gabion rock baskets— hand-flled with more than 480,000 rocks—and the insertion of 528 soil anchors to stabilise the riverbanks. Additionally, 3,800 cubic meters of rock backfll and 163 meters of concrete were used to fnalise the work.

This accomplishment is part of a broader restoration program in the Tweed region, where $132 million has already been spent on completed projects. The program has also secured over $100 million in additional funding from the Australian and NSW Governments for upcoming restoration works.

Tweed Mayor Chris

Cherry celebrated the project’s success, emphasising its importance to both the Uki community and those who rely on Kyogle Road.

“The foods of 2022 impacted signifcantly on the Tweed community, especially those living in our hinterland,” Cr Cherry said.

“Kyogle Road is key connection to Murwillumbah for residents and a popular route connecting the Tweed to our neighbouring shires.

“I would like to thank contractors CMC for their work in restoring Kyogle and Mount Warning Roads and also working with the local community to have this signifcant project completed ahead of what is a very busy time of the year.”

Contractor CMC had to ensure the road remained open to one lane through the various sites during construction and with the locations close to the Tweed River, environmental measures were put in place to avoid any contamination from the work sites.

Quote from CMC representative, Adon Dinsmore:

CMC Project Manager

Adon Dinsmore said the company was proud to be an integral part of this successful project that was delivered within budget and ahead of schedule.

“It has been a great team effort by all stakeholders including Tweed Council and our design partners BG&E and Geotechnical Engineers FSG to ensure the road was opened to road users prior to the busy Christmas break,” Mr Dinsmore said.

“We also want to acknowledge the tremendous support and gratitude shown by the local community where many of our team live and work.

“This is a special part of the world, and we have been able to give back to many of the local community organisations through donations, raffes and good old-fashioned hard work.”

Quotes from NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Disaster Recovery and State Member for Lismore, Janelle Saffn:

“These are vital local roads that also bring many tourists to our region, so it is great to have them fully restored,” Ms Saffn said.

“The landslips were of a kind we have never had before and the preparatory work, let alone the works themselves, presented those charged with fxing them very diffcult challenges, and I thank them as well as locals for their forbearance and many suggestions.”

Quote from NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Jenny Aitchison:

NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Jenny Aitchison said Northern NSW continues to build back its essential infrastructure following the devasting food events which caused billions of dollars in damage across the region.

“I’m sure all those who use these roads will appreciate the hard work done by Council and its contractors to repair the damage, assisted by Transport for NSW and the funding supplied by the NSW and Australian Governments,” Ms Aitchison said.

Quote from Federal representative, Justine Elliot:

The Member for Richmond, Justine Elliot said the Tweed region was badly affected by the food event in 2022, so it was great to see this work to restore roads to their pre-food condition continues to be completed.

“It’s vital we restore transport links when they have been damaged in natural disasters, with three levels of government working together to ensure residents, businesses and visitors are all able to drive safely on these roads once more,” Ms Elliot said.

For more on the Tweed’s food restoration program, visit tweed.nsw.gov.au/ food-restoration-works