Lawrence Hargrave Dr Re-opens Next Month

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday August 1, 2002

By TIM AYLING

Roads and Traffic Authority crews will install 460 rock anchors and galvanised steel bolts to try to stabilise cliffs on Lawrence Hargrave Dr.

They will also install a 5m-high fence at a major headland near Clifton to catch falling rocks weighing up to six tonnes.

The work will be done over the next three weeks as the final part of a $4 million project between Coalcliff and Clifton.

A 4km section of Lawrence Hargrave Dr was closed on July 8 to allow the project to go ahead. It is expected to be finished on August 19.

So far drilling and removal of a ridge above the southern amphitheatre have been completed. Falling rocks were bouncing off the ridge and landing close to or on the roadway, creating a traffic hazard for motorists.

RTA crews have also excavated rocks from the catch ditch below the amphitheatre, deepened and widened the ditch and raised the height of the ``earthmound buffer", a stone retaining wall on the road side of the ditch.

The Swiss-designed fence at the southern headland will be supported by high-tensile cable brakes and can hold a rock up to six tonnes dropped from a height of 30m.

``Six tonnes is larger than anything we've picked up off the road in the past, so we're confident this will do the job," RTA works manager Bruce Fenton said.

Mr Fenton said the fence was being erected at the base of the southern headland because the sheer vertical face of the cliff meant any falling rocks dropped straight onto either side of a bend on Lawrence Hargrave Dr.

Heathcote MP Ian McManus said he had received complaints from residents about damage to their cars from falling rocks.

``That not only includes damage as small rocks hit cars from above, but damage when cars come around a bend and cannot avoid a large rock that has landed in the middle of the road," he said.

Two publicans in Scarborough and Coalcliff have criticised the Lawrence Hargrave Dr closure, saying they were missing out on weekend trade from both locals and Sydney day-trippers.

The Northern Illawarra Chamber of Commerce has written to members of Parliament, including Mr McManus, requesting the Government fund a tourism campaign for the area when the road reopens. It is hoped such a campaign would offset some of the trade lost.

RTA regional manager Geoff Styles said the road closure was necessary from a safety perspective, as drilling before rock bolt installation temporarily destabilised the rock face.

Also, two 90-tonne maxi-cranes took four hours to set up and could not be moved on and off the road each day.

``Fortunately there have been no serious injuries or fatalities from falling rocks but the potential is always there," he said.

``This is the first time we've had the technology to do this kind of stabilisation work. Motorists and residents are inconvenienced but hopefully we will reduce accidents and the need for even more work in the future."