A long-awaited emergency access route from Mt Wilson to Bilpin is still some way off, as authorities work on a fire trail plan.
Residents of the Mounts - Mts Wilson and Irvine in the northernmost part of the Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) area - can only use Mt Wilson Road as their only road in and out, as the alternative route - Mt Irvine/Bowens Creek Road, which connects the villages with Bells Line near Bilpin - has deteriorated and is no longer passable.
Residents have long called for an alternative route, as they could effectively become prisoners in their own community if the main road was blocked, and the issue has resurfaced due to the current bushfires.
The Federal Government announced in 2017 that $100,000 would be provided to Hawkesbury Council to investigate and design an emergency access route. Council's director of infrastructure services, Jeff Organ, said technical investigations were completed in September 2018, including looking at reconstruction of Mount Irvine Road and the bridge jointly owned with Blue Mountains over Bowens Creek for use as an emergency access route.
The preliminary design provided for a single lane route with turnaround points and passing bays, and came with an estimate price tag of $3 million, he said.
"In September 2018, the final report was provided to BMCC and, following acceptance of the report by the funding body in October 2018, the report was distributed in December 2018 to the relevant policy stakeholders as a necessary step to establish the priority for the route and to seek grant funding," he said.
BMCC stated it had sought the views on the strategic importance of the restoration of the full road alignment from six government agencies, including the NSW Rural Fire Service late last year, with three responses received by February this year.
"Most significantly, the NSW Rural Fire Service indicated it could not provide comment until the Hawkesbury Fire Access and Fire Trails (FAFT) Plan was completed," the statement said. "At the time of writing, council [BMCC] understands that the FAFT is yet to be completed.
"Given that the restoration of vehicle access relies on work predominantly in the Hawkesbury LGA, and that the NSW RFS has suggested that completion of the Hawkesbury FAFT plan was required before it could finalise its position, Blue Mountains City Council continues to focus on its commitment to ensuring basic 4WD accessibility of the Blue Mountains component of the road. At the last inspection in late September 2019, it was confirmed that this standard of vehicle access remains available to the bridge."