Sandstone donation making happy trails for National Parks

Twelve truckloads of crushed sandstone have been transported more than 30 kilometres from a Transport for NSW work site at Mount Victoria to be used as a base for roads and walking trails in the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area.  
The virgin excavated natural material (VENM) had been removed from an embankment by Transport for NSW crews working to stabilise a slope beside the Great Western Highway near Fairy Bower Road.  
The ongoing work at Mount Victoria will provide a permanent fix for the slope that was badly damaged by heavy rainfall in 2022 and will replace the emergency stabilisation work carried out at the site.  
But the project will also leave a legacy of a very different kind beneath the feet of thousands of bush walkers and campers who use the Gardens of Stone on the Newnes Plateau, north of Lithgow, every year. 
"The crushed sandstone is a beautiful base for roads and walking trails within our national parks because it’s a very similar material to surrounding areas and very hard-wearing,” Transport for NSW Regional Director West Alistair Lunn said.
“Sandstone is a natural material that will provide a hardy base for the roads and trails for many years to come, but it is not always easy to source.
“By its nature, VENM is ideal for reuse in this way because we know it will be free of contaminants that could potentially damage our national parks, fauna and flora.”
Mr Lunn said Transport crews were always on the lookout for ways to reuse valuable material excavated from roads construction sites.  
“None of us likes to see any natural resources go to waste so when the idea came that National Parks could use this crushed sandstone, it was an obvious solution for everyone,” Mr Lunn said.
“It’s a great example of co-operation between two agencies delivering a great result for the whole state.”  
The ongoing slope stabilisation work at Mount Victoria includes construction of a 75-metre long and four-metre high gabion basket retaining wall, installation of a concrete footing and piled foundation for the retaining wall, and backfilling behind the retaining wall with 300mm diameter free-draining rock to create a final slope length of about 25 metres and reduced gradient.  
Drainage work includes creation of a new stormwater chute, a new gabion basket stormwater drop structure and extending existing horizontal drains.  
Work is on track for completion in October 2024.