20 June 2020

A $64 million recovery effort to restore the NSW road and transport network from damage from the bushfires is now complete.

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole said the bushfires had impacted 880 kilometres of the State’s road network, damaging guard rails, bridges and signs as well as the State’s Main West railway line.

“From the Gwydir Highway in the north to the Kings Highway and Princes Highway in the south to Jenolan Caves Road in the Central West, the damage to State roads was immense,” Mr Toole said.

“Crews have worked tirelessly since the fires to clear and repair the road and rail network and to make it more resilient to bushfires in the future by clearing additional vegetation in high-risk areas and replacing burnt culverts with new pipes which are more capable of withstanding bushfire impacts.”

“The recovery effort saw 2000 signs and 30 kilometres of guardrail replaced as well as the clearing of thousands of trees.”

Mr Toole said the State’s Main West railway line though the Blue Mountains was also restored to full capacity last month after more than 150,000 man hours went into rebuilding the track infrastructure damaged by the fires and subsequent flooding.

“Crews replaced more than 50km of fibre optic cables and 37km of high voltage power lines damaged in the fires and rebuilt the signaling system between Mount Victoria and Lithgow.”

Mr Toole said the recovery effort would not have been possible without the tireless work from more than 850 people from Transport for NSW, local businesses, councils, emergency services and contractors.

“It has been a mammoth effort right across the State that has taken over three months to complete,” Mr Toole said.

Mr Toole said Transport for NSW was continuing to work closely with fire-affected councils to assist with recovery and restoration of local roads infrastructure under the Disaster Recovery Funding arrangements.