Responsibility for Upper Main Arm Road seems to be falling between the cracks – and some of them have been larger than the road over the last three years – as National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) promotes the Gidjuum Gulganyi Walk that starts at Unicorn Falls in Upper Main Arm.
The Upper Main Arm Roads Committee (UMARC), which was re-established after the 2022 floods as a way of giving the local community a collective voice following the significant trauma and upheaval experienced, along with the well-documented destruction of homes, roads, causeways, local hall and school, is raising concerns over the condition of Upper Main Arm Road.
‘Since the opening of the Gidjuum Gulganyi Walk, local residents have counted no less than eight motor vehicle accidents (no fatalities to date); two vehicles have recently driven off the road and ended up in deep roadside ditches and the creek, the headwaters of the Brunswick River,’ said Navaya Ellis, spokesperson for UMARC.
Emergency response work
‘Since February 2022, road restoration works undertaken by Byron Shire Council (BSC) have been largely limited to emergency response work – sinkholes, collapsed causeways, temporary road pavement repairs – while the annual funding allocated for BSC infrastructure maintenance has proven to be woefully inadequate given the irreparable damage to roads, causeways, and drains during and since the 2022 flood.’
The NPWS are clear that local government are responsible for the maintenance of local roads but say they are encouraging tourists to access the Gidjuum Gulganyi Walk from the Manns Road track head via Uki and Manns Road.
‘NPWS also encourages visitors to use the shuttle service with a partnered commercial operator (Vision Walks) to minimise traffic impacts on the road network,’ said a NPWS spokesperson.
Capital works budget spread across Shire
Phil Holloway, Director Infrastructure Services at BSC, told The Echo that, ‘Council’s capital works budget for road maintenance is spread across the Shire and flood restoration work in the Main Arm area is ongoing. The opening of the NPWS Gidjuum Gulganyi Walk has been well received, and Council is aware of concerns raised by the community with the subsequent increase in traffic in Upper Main Arm and will monitor this situation.
‘In the meantime, all accidents should be reported to police,’ he said.
Responding to the lack of response from both BSC and NPWS for action Ms Ellis told The Echo that, ‘UMARC demands that the relevant NSW government agencies involved in the restoration of local communities post-2022 floods, NPWS and BSC, work together to source critical funds and implement traffic and road solutions for Upper Main Arm given the added pressures that the new Gidjuum Gulganyi Walk has now placed on our community.
‘NPWS and the NSW government must meet their responsibilities to local communities, such as Upper Main Arm, that they have now exposed to dramatic changes in the face of NSW government ecotourism developments.’
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