Chifley Road vegetation to be reduced, removed to boost safety in a bushfire emergency

A three-week project to reduce vegetation beside Chifley Road in the state’s Central West will improve safety for all road users in the event of a bushfire emergency.

Transport for NSW Acting Regional Director West Holly Davies said the work to remove and reduce the roadside vegetation would be funded by the NSW Government’s $19.5 million Bushfire Corridor Resilience Project to better prepare the state’s regional roads network for future bushfire seasons.

“A specialist arborist and environmental officer have inspected trees and shrubs along a 25-kilometre section of Chifley Road to identify those that pose a potential safety hazard during a bushfire events,” Ms Davies said.

“The vegetation removal work will include reducing the shrub-like vegetation to improve bushfire resilience for the network and ensure safe traffic movements in an emergency.

“Falling tree limbs in the event of a bushfire will potentially mean the road will need to be closed and by trimming identified trees, we can reduce the possibility of bushfire impacting the road and causing network interruptions during bushfire events.

“Maintaining roadside vegetation also improves safety and sight distances for all motorists.”

Vegetation clearing and trimming will be carried out along Chifley Road from the top of Scenic Hill to the intersection of the Bells Line of Road and Darling Causeway, with work to start on Tuesday 10 June and is expected to take three weeks to complete.

Crews will be working Monday to Friday from 7am to 5pm with changed traffic conditions in place including lane closures, stop/slow traffic control and a reduced 40 km/h speed limit.

Motorists should drive to conditions and allow up to 10 minutes of extra travel time.

More information on the Regional and Outer Metropolitan – Network Resilience Program and Bushfire Corridor Resilience project is available here.