Lawrence Hargrave Drive natural disaster recovery

We will be installing protection barrier, to prevent rocks falling onto the road, on the northbound side of Lawrence Hargrave just north of Bombora Way at Coalcliff.

We will also be carrying out investigation work on two culverts at this location to inform future drainage upgrade work in the area. Work involves digging the ground to locate existing utlities and gain information about ground conditions. 

Work will be carried out from Monday 23 June to Friday 4 July, weather permitting. Find out more in the June 2025 notification (PDF, 107.46 KB).

Transport for NSW (Transport) is planning further landslip repair work this year to help make Lawrence Hargrave Drive more resilient to the effects of extreme weather events.

The program of work begins this month with stage one of improvements to the flow of stormwater into the culvert at Stony Creek Bridge, Coalcliff. 

To achieve this, we’ll install low-profile roadside edges and additional drainage channels.

Work will also take place to install new geotechnical monitoring equipment to measure groundwater levels and further slope movement at the landslip site in Stanwell Park where repairs were completed last year.

Other work planned for this year includes:

• improving groundwater drainage and repairing the damaged road pavement near the raised walkway between Stanwell Park and Coalcliff
• installing micro piles to stabilise a landslip area located south of Stanwell Park near the start of the Wodi Wodi walking track
• adding rock fill and replacing vegetation to stabilise the failed slope above Bombora Way
• adding protection bollards to prevent rocks falling onto the road to improve safety for road users
• stage two of work at Stony Creek Bridge, including repairing the scoured slope and further improvements to the stormwater drainage.

We’re planning schedules for these repairs and will inform the community before work begins.

This work follows an intensive program last year that saw almost $30 million worth of landslip repairs completed on state roads across southern NSW, including $5.5 million of work on Lawrence Hargrave Drive.

The natural disaster recovery work is funded by the Australian and NSW governments through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

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Work to repair natural disaster damage is planned to take place at several sites on Lawrence Hargrave Drive in 2025.

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Natural disaster events over recent years have caused landslip damage on Lawrence Hargrave Drive. 

Transport is working to repair multiple landslip sites through its natural disaster recovery project. 

Significant progress has already been made on repairs to these landslip sites with planning under way for more repairs.

Our geotechnical team monitors all active sites until repairs are completed.

Many of the landslip sites require complex repairs. 

Transport will complete repairs that, depending on each site, could include:

• removing loose rocks, soil and trees
• stabilising and adding strength to the damaged slopes
• upgrading stormwater drains
• repairing road surfaces and replacing guardrails.

Some factors are out of our control and can cause delays to our progress:

• Weather - heavy rain and storms could make working conditions unsafe.
• Workload – the statewide increase in demand for qualified contractors, equipment and resources could mean longer timeframes for repairs.
• Worksite – the steep site and narrow site could create some unexpected challenges.

Transport follows a thorough process before starting natural disaster recovery repairs. This process includes:

• geotechical, biodiversity and heritage surveys
• design planning
• environmental assessment
• final design acceptance
• procurement.

Transport for NSW conducted in-depth geotechnical investigations and as a result, identified a number of sites between Otford Road and Chellow Dene Avenue where work was needed to stabilise the slope and reduce the risk of land slips.

Transport for NSW consulted the community around four options from November to December 2019 on plans for the project. The community was asked to provide feedback on closing the road in two four week stages with work taking place 24 hours a day. Following the feedback from this consultation we developed four options for further community and stakeholder feedback.

The second consultation received 720 responses, 717 of these respondents selected a preferred option to carry out the work.

The consultation was carried out to gain a better understanding of the Stanwell Park area and how our customers use this stretch of road, to help inform plans to carry out the essential slope stabilisation and maintenance work on Lawrence Hargrave Drive.

Consultation period 1 (July - August 2019) - consultation report (PDF, 607Kb)

Consultation period 2 (November - December 2019) consultation report (PDF, 404Kb)

The slope repair work was completed on schedule, with the road reopened on Sunday 9 August 2020.

Work included:

• a 29 metre-long concrete retaining wall has been built at the highest risk site to stabilise and strengthen the slope
• installation of about 900 soil nails of up to 12 metres in length
• four kilometres of drains installed
• 5000 square metres of stabilising mesh laid
• 900 square metres of shotcrete installed
• road resurfacing was carried out on sections of the road and minor guardrail repairs were completed
• about 5000 square metres of hydromulch and seeding.