Boulders Can Reach the Proposed Bulahdelah (Option E) Roadway

In regard to boulders which can readily be seen near the proposed roadway the RTA document Specific Geotechnical Issues (date: June, 2008) claims:


· Boulders that [sic] can be observed near the proposed road line are within colluvium.


And that’s meant to be a good thing? ‘Colluvium’ is the RTA’s term for the boulder-strewn ‘silty-clay-sand-gravel material’ of the ‘large scale’ landslide in which it is their intention to locate part of the Option E roadway.

In stating that boulders which travelled from the mountain’s cliffs to the area of the proposed roadway are ‘within colluvium’ the RTA seems to be implying that: they’re stable and were transported down the mountain in a landslide (instead of bouncing down independently).

The boulders which can be seen beside the power line track have been in their current locations for many years. (One has even attracted a nickname: Big Rock - and many people have been photographed sitting on it.) There is no question of instability regarding these or, for that matter, any of the many large boulders which, in years past, have travelled from the upper reaches of the mountain to its foot. No one who has seen these boulders and is in their right mind would give two hoots as to their current stability or whether their fall down the mountainside was dependent or independent. But they – and the boulder-strewn landslide area in which they are located – provide evidence that boulders have – and therefore can – reach the area of the proposed roadway.

This post initially published: 20th July, 2008.