Hawkesbury City Council investigates Greens Road Lower Portland flood fix

Greens Road residents have been without a road since the Hawkesbury flood disaster in March, which created two sections of landslide damage into the Hawkesbury River.

Council's Director Infrastructure Services, Jeff Organ, said Geotechnical specialists Pells Sullivan Meynink (PSM) were engaged in April to undertake a comprehensive investigation of the two flood-damaged sections of Greens Road - a 200 metre section south of the guesthouse and a 400m section north of the guesthouse.

PSM found temporary repair works may be possible to allow passenger vehicles to use the road while a permanent solution is engineered.

"Council is working with PSM to determine how this can be achieved as well as timeframes for temporary repairs to take place," said Mr Organ.

He said the results of a geotechnical survey were needed to provide guidance on what geotechnical investigations were required at the site to determine the makeup of the ground conditions.

"Investigations into a complex project such as this is essential to ensure that the permanent repairs for Greens Road are safe for all road users and that it will provide better immunity from future flood damage," he said.

In the meantime, Council is exploring options including a temporary seal as a dust suppression measure on Wheelbarrow Ridge Road while it is experiencing additional diverted traffic.

"Preparatory works have commenced along the road verges and Council is currently in discussions with the contractor to complete the work later this month, subject to weather conditions," said Mr Organ.

He said surfacing work was not considered a permanent pavement construction and was anticipated to have a life of a few years only.

"Council will look at undertaking more permanent pavement construction works, including widening, as a separate exercise," Mr Organ said.

Greens Road resident Rochelle Miller said residents and tourism operators were "strongly affected" by the road closure, and she wanted Council's online and email updates to provide more clarity about the timeline for works and when they would be completed.

"One household located past the first southern closure are living in a van because they cannot get the support services in to clean up the health issues and damage impacted to their homes from the floods. Another elderly resident with ongoing health issues, is concerned that emergency services have no access, helicopters are not always available," Ms Miller said.

"The residents past the second northern closure are taking a bush fire trail detour with families, damaging their private vehicles and enduring lengthy travel times to their journey in the dark hours of the day. They can not get emergency services or water haulage either.

"If a house fire or bush fire approaches, response is extensive and residents can be completely cut off from RFS support."

Mr Organ said: "Council understands the inconvenience that the closure of Greens Road is having on residents. Council is working to engineer a safe and long-lasting repair to this road, which will be completed as soon as possible."

He encouraged all Greens Road residents to sign up for the council's regular email updates at hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/for-residents/emergency-information/flood-related-information then click on the green webtile 'Register for Upper Colo Bridge and Greens Road updates'.