The reality of yet another year without a functioning highway is beginning to sink in for locals in NSW’s Central West. For many, the disruption is no longer just an inconvenience. Businesses are struggling to survive as customers disappear, while some residents are making life-changing decisions about where they live, work and invest in their future.
The Great Western Hwy, the main road linking Sydney with the state’s Central West, was shut in early March when major structural issues were found beneath the road at Victoria Pass, on the western descent of the Blue Mountains.
The state government originally estimated the highway would remain closed for at least three months, however, on June 26 Transport For NSW announced the road would not be expected to reopen until the second quarter of next year.
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The announcement included details on the solution to reinstate the highway, including a new road deck constructed on the current alignment above the existing causeway, supported by piles anchored into the bedrock.
During the closure, all highway traffic between Mount Victoria and Lithgow has been detoured via the Darling Causeway and Chifley Rd.
Rerouted traffic travelling down smaller local streets and roads not designed to deal with the influx of vehicles has added hours to travel times, and increased safety concerns for local residents.
The closure has also caused a complete bypass of some towns with a flow-on effect for business.
Hartley Valley Holiday Farm, which offers accommodation, horse riding and dirt bike riding for families, has felt the closure of the highway acutely.
Located near the base of the Mount Victoria Pass, the holiday farm has been running since the 1970s but is now facing an unknown future.
“The highway closure has pretty much ended any meaningful ability that we have to generate new members,” Hartley Valley Holiday Farm chair Jaime Lumsden said.
“We have lost some members because it’s not convenient for them to come anymore. I think it’s added 50 minutes each way to go around the road closure to get to us.”
Lumsden said some staff had quit due to the change in commuting times.
“It’s had an impact on us in trying to retain staff,” she said.
“We haven’t been able to replace, or are choosing not to replace because we’re not too sure about our financial situation at the moment with the road closure.
“It’s been incredibly bad timing for us.”
Hartley is one of the towns cut off by the highway closure, with alternate routes bypassing the town from Mount Victoria to Lithgow.
Residents in Hartley who want to head east now have to drive 30 minutes west before rejoining the alternate route heading east again — adding an extra hour in detours before the trip has even begun.
In late June, the NSW Government announced a $20 million funding package to help financially support small businesses “most acutely affected” by the highway closure.
The package included $10,000 to $25,000 for small businesses experiencing financial hardship in Mount Victoria, Hartley, Little Hartley and Hartley Vale — the towns either completely or partially cut off due to the highway closure — and up to $10,000 for eligible businesses “experiencing financial hardship to a wider area”, including suburbs in Lithgow, Oberon and Blackheath.
“We’re running a farm, a recreational farm, and that’s a very expensive endeavour,” Lumsden said.
“(The funding) doesn’t go very far. That’s not even our wages bill for a week.
“And you can only cut the expenses so far — we have very fixed expenses, there’s a limit to how we can cut those expenses.”
Business NSW’s Great Western Highway Business Impact Survey released in March revealed “widespread economic disruption” and noted impacts across freight, productivity, tourism and customers.
The survey showed almost every business surveyed (98 per cent) reported being impacted or expecting to be impacted, with some businesses warning they may close within three to six months without assistance, prior to the announcement of funding packages last month.
“There has to be something (more), $5,000, $20,000 as one-offs are not going to cut it for a lot of these businesses,” Lumsden said.
“I would have thought for 12 months (closure) I would have thought ongoing support of some kind is what’s going to be needed or businesses will just dissipate.”
The NSW Government acknowledged the “ongoing challenge the Great Western Hwy closure presents for local businesses”.
“That is why an additional $20 million funding package was announced in June to increase the financial assistance for businesses experiencing significant hardship,” it said.
“We will continue monitor the impact on local trade as recovery works progress to ensure businesses are aware of and can access all available financial assistance.”
So far 195 applications have been made to the Great Western Hwy Closure Small Business Support Grant, with 150 applications approved totalling $2,370,000.
The NSW Government said applications will close on January 22 next year, or earlier if all available funds are exhausted.
Local roads ruined
Steve Warren, owner of the historic heritage-listed Collits’ Inn, now a wedding and functions venue, said the closure has been “horrible” — with new local access points to Hartley funnelled down a small road past the inn.
“There’s been more traffic in the last six months than (the inn’s) probably seen in the last 60 years,” he said.
At just over 200 years old, the inn is the oldest standing building in the Blue Mountains and is now facing new challenges.
“Our public events have obviously slowed down dramatically, along with couples having access to the place looking for venues,” Warren said.
“I’m just a bit over it.”
Warren said that besides a visit from Service NSW, he has had no direct communication with any local authorities on vital information regarding the closure and its flow-on effect for locals.
“I’ve got to go out and actively find it all myself,” he said.
Like many people who work in the area, Warren lives in the Blue Mountains, meaning driving to work now takes much longer. However, the detours have highlighted other issues facing residents.
“When I get into Lithgow and to the bottom of the detour road up Chifley Rd, up the Scenic Hill, I just never know what’s waiting for me there,” he said.
The 3km long Scenic Hill includes a steep incline and features a 375m vertical rise just east of Lithgow, with all highway traffic, including heavy vehicles, directed up the 1:8 gradient.
“The traffic light could be red, there could be a truck stuck, and I could just be standing at the bottom of that hill for half an hour, an hour.
“And when there is something that goes wrong on that hill, there is zero contingency. There’s no other way.”
Locals in Lithgow are also suffering from the influx of traffic as the highway is detoured through the middle of the town.
“Traffic through Lithgow is just ridiculous. People can’t get to the shops, they can’t get up the street, they can’t get to their appointments,” Warren said.
“So not just us who are affected, it’s the whole region. It’s a mess.
“If I was living in Lithgow, I’d just be dreading if I had to duck up the street and get a loaf of bread.”
With no fixed date for the reopening of the highway available, locals have the anxiety of maintaining their businesses in the current climate for an unknown amount of time.
“It’s having an impact on everybody,” Lumsden said.
“The idea that this place might not be there for people like my daughter and other kids at the farm and adults who were kids at the farm when they were younger is a very, very sad thought.
“And then even if we survive, the idea that some of the community that we’re used to might not be there for us even if we survive. You think about what else is going to go, what else won’t survive.
“How is it going to change the character of the community that we all operate as part of? That’s very sad.”
