Abseiling workers to lead repairs on Jenolan Caves Road near Hampton

Work will start in January to repair serious damage to the downslope of Jenolan Caves Road at Hampton, with a contractor now appointed to lead this project.
Transport for NSW Regional Director West Alistair said McIlwain had been appointed to oversee the work, which is scheduled to take 35 weeks to complete, weather permitting.
“Transport for NSW has conducted extensive investigations to determine the best solution to repair the slope and restore the road to its pre-flooding condition after severe weather caused downslope damage in 2021 which was exacerbated by more wet weather in 2022,” Mr Lunn said.
“The remediation will be a challenging job given the extent of the damage to the road and slope, as well as difficulty in accessing some of the damage which will require workers to abseil down the slope to complete the job. 
“This work is key to restoring full access along Jenolan Caves Road.”
Mr Lunn said the site at Hampton was complex and presented many challenges.
“More than 200 soil nails and shotcrete will be used in repair work at two locations along the slope,” Mr Lunn said.
"Seven culverts will be replaced and damaged pavement along the project length will be repaired. New edge safety barriers will be installed and existing ones will be replaced, as well as new kerb and guttering.
“Without reasonable controls the nailing and culvert works are high risk, involving the need for workers to scale down the face of the slope using ropes while in harnesses.
“For the safety of those workers and all on-site, as well as the public, this activity must be done during daylight hours and will require a full road closure and detour.”
The site will be closed to all traffic for up to 13 days for the nail installation, and an additional 39 days for culvert replacements, vegetation removal and excavation work to occur.
The exact dates for this repair work in January will be communicated to the community once the schedule of work has been confirmed.
Traffic travelling between Hampton and Hartley will be detoured via Bathurst and Oberon, a one-way trip of 135 kilometres taking about one hour and 40 minutes.
“We are unable to do this at night when traffic impacts would be less, as we require the daylight hours to ensure this critical work is undertaken safely,” Mr Lunn said.
“We understand this detour will be an inconvenience and we thank all motorists for their patience while we work to repair the site at Hampton and complete another piece of the mammoth task to restore full access along Jenolan Caves Road.”
Work hours will be 7am to 5pm from Monday to Friday, and 8am to 5pm on Saturday.
Work will start on Tuesday 16 January and conclude in September 2024, weather permitting.
More information on the Hampton remediation and other works along Jenolan Caves Road can be found at nswroads.work/jcroad.