The RTA's Lies about Access to the Alum Mountain

Currently, most people access the summit of the Alum Mountain by private vehicle (using the road – not ‘track’ which leads to the upper car park). Despite their numerous claims to the contrary (including in a joint *media release by Eric Roozendaal and Jim Lloyd), the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) does not intend to maintain access to the Alum Mountain – they plan to decimate the highest usage area on the mountain’s foot and sever customary access to its summit.

*The abovementioned joint media release is of RTA propaganda and does not reflect the true situation. It is available at: http://www.minister.infrastructure.gov.au/jl/releases/2006/May/l50_2006.htm
or: http://www.ministers.dotars.gov.au/jl/releases/2006/May/L50_2006.htm.

From the Bulahdelah Upgrading the Pacific Highway Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Main Volume Page 5.19 [bold typeface and statements in square brackets added for emphasis/information]:-

'Mountain Access Overbridge

A single-span overbridge, totalling approximately 60 metres in length, is proposed at Station 96650 to replace the existing section of the Bulahdelah ([the] Alum) Mountain access track [actually an unsealed roadway] which would be cut by the Upgrade [should the ‘Option E’ route be used]. The overbridge would closely match the existing access track alignment. …

…

The bridge would have a 4-metre-wide deck and an internal clearance of 4.3 metres to the truss structure. It would primarily be used by pedestrians, but it could accommodate the passage of State Forest and emergency vehicles. Throw-over protective screens would be incorporated into the design.'

At the first of their RTA-conducted meetings this year (2008) the relatively few Bulahdelah community members who are prepared to meet with RTA bureaucrats were told that the (‘Option E’) route the RTA intends to use would not prevent private vehicles from accessing the upper reaches of the mountain. RTA meeting ‘notes’ show that – again – the RTA lied to community members, with the ‘notes’ stating that access to the mountain’s summit would only be for emergency vehicles.

This post initially published: 22nd July, 2008.