Council closes road at Federal because of land slip threat

Published on 15 February 2019

Council has been forced to close a section of Federal Drive at Federal because of the potential for a serious land slip.

The road was closed on Friday afternoon (15 February 2019) after an inspection of a section of the road by an independent Geotechnical Consultant Engineer.

The section of road on the western side of Federal Drive was identified as a land slip hazard in June 2018 and staff began planning for stabilisation works to be undertaken.

Phil Holloway, Director Infrastructure Services, said all the preliminary investigations have been completed and Council is due to approve a preferred contractor at the March Council meeting.

“As part of routine safety schedule we get an independent engineer to do regular checks on stability of this section of road and during the most recent check it was noted that the landslip had worsened,” Mr Holloway said.

“The dry weather has also resulted in cracks appearing in the soil on the slope, and this means that even a small amount of rain could result in a land slip and this is naturally extremely dangerous for anyone who may be on the road at that time,” he said.

People will still be able to get access to their properties but some may have to take a detour.

“We apologise for any inconvenience but from a safety perspective we had no choice but to close this road until the land slip is repaired,” Mr Holloway said.

Council is expecting contractors will start work on stabilising the land slip in April-May this year.  Once work starts it will take approximately eight weeks to complete.

For more information contact Annie Lewis, Media and Communications Coordinator, on 6626 7320.