A SEVEN-kilometre detour around Sauls Dairy at Utungun will be in place from Monday, 7 September 2026 until the end of the year as work takes place to repair road subsidence on Boat Harbour Road.
The detour will involve travel along Taylors Arm Road at a reduced speed limit and is expected to take an average-sized vehicle around 13 minutes.
Major works are necessary as the root of the subsidence problem lies with the failure of old, corrugated steel culverts located eight metres below Boat Harbour Road.
Nambucca Valley Council (NVC) Acting General Manager David Moloney acknowledged there would be inconvenience to members of the community but stressed the need to get to the heart of the issue and do the job properly.
“I acknowledge there is never a good time to close a road, however piece-meal repairs have been carried out at Boat Harbour Road, Sauls Dairy, in the past and all those temporary fixes have deteriorated,” Mr Moloney said.
Mr Moloney said a contraflow traffic arrangement was not possible during the road repair due to the depth of excavation required for the project and the challenges associated with removing existing, deteriorated material in multiple pieces.
“To demolish the existing culverts, the construction team needs to use large plant and machinery to dig down eight metres safely, demolish the steel culverts and then bench out the road and install the new Tri-cell Concrete Box Culverts with a 130-tonne crane,” Mr Moloney said.
The Tri-cell Concrete Box Culverts are large, prefabricated concrete units that will provide bridging and drainage. The culvert pieces are approximately 30 metres in length, and there will be 22 culvert units, each weighing almost 8.5 tonnes.
Mr Moloney said that, due to the size and depth of the excavation, and the steep topography of adjacent land, closing Boat Harbour Road and detouring traffic via Taylors Arm Road was the only safe and viable option.
The work will be funded through the Australian Government’s Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program, from which Council secured a $2.4 million allocation to complete the Sauls Dairy project.
Council’s grading team is preparing Taylors Arm Road for detour traffic by grading the road surface, clearing debris from stormwater pipes and trimming vegetation along sections of the road.
A water cart will, weather permitting, regularly travel along Taylors Arm Road to spray water and suppress dust generated by increased traffic.
By Eve NESMITH
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