The road running to the small village of Tyalgum in the Tweed Shire has been fully restored, allowing double lane access to Tyalgum village for the first time since the 2022 floods.
In February 2022, the biggest recorded floods in the Tweed’s history caused major devastation to Tyalgum Road, , known affectionately by locals as ‘The Crack’, resulting in a landslip more than 100m wide and 60m deep.
This meant the main arterial road between Tyalgum and Murwillumbah was unpassable, forcing residents and visitors to take a longer alternative route via Chillingham.
Tweed Shire Council, working with Transport for NSW, engaged contractor SEE Civil to restore the road and in March 2023 work started on ‘The Crack’. Now, more than 2 years later, the $24 million project is complete.
Tweed Mayor Chris Cherry said that Tyalgum Road has been one of the major roadworks for Council since the 2022 floods and she was delighted it was finished.
“Thanks to all the staff at Tweed Shire Council and SEE Civil who worked on this complicated project,” Cr Cherry said.
“Their teamwork and dedication have delivered an outcome which will benefit not only the village of Tyalgum, but the Tweed community for many years to come.
“I would also like to sincerely thank the Tyalgum community for their patience and understanding. We know that it’s been difficult at times but we hope that this safer road will be worth the wait,” Cr Cherry said.
Funded by the Australian and NSW Governments through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, the size and scope of the work presented challenges for engineers and designers. They were also thwarted by weather conditions, which were anything but favourable at times.
The project was completed in several phases.
One of the key priorities when work began was to stabilise the extreme slip site. This, in itself, was no easy task. It required the use of some very heavy machinery – with a 70 tonne crane working in tandem with a huge piling machine which would eventually see the installation of 130 concrete piles driven 15 metres into the earth.
Once this was done, a temporary access route was established in October 2023 for Tyalgum residents and businesses which reduced the need to take the long way around to Murwillumbah via Chillingham.
However, this track was subject to the weather, forcing the installation of automatic gates which would close if rainfall exceeded the amount determined by engineering experts.
As the road was completed, an additional 130 pile tieback anchors were bored into the bank and 3300 tonnes of rock were brought in to fill 197 gabion baskets that were locked together to ensure the restored road will endure for years to come.
There was also a strong Tweed presence on the project – 90 per cent of the SEE Civil employees were residents of the Tweed Shire including supervisors, engineers, project managers and machine operators.
Federal Minister for Emergency Management Kristy McBain said Tyalgumn had faced a long road to recovery since the 2022 floods, and reconnecting the community marks a major milestone for locals who’ve been doing it tough,” Minister McBain said.
“Disaster recovery isn’t just about rebuilding roads, it’s about restoring the vital lifelines that connect people to each other and to services.
“Since day one, we’ve been working alongside communities like Tyalgum to not just recover but to rebuild stronger and be better prepared for future disasters.
“This is what disaster recovery funding is all about. Real outcomes that make a real difference in people’s lives, especially in regional communities.”
