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Mark Hinchliffe·
NewsMotorbike news
··12 Comments·1 min read

NSW highways to hell

MCCNSW Steve Pearce submission to Ombudsman over Oxley highway speed highways
Mountain section of the Oxley Highway

There are few alternatives for riders travelling through north-east New South Wales at the moment with three major highways virtually off the list.

Before Christmas 2017, the speed limit on the mountain section of the Oxley Highway tumbled 20km/h.

Riders have been avoiding the road ever since.

Gwydir Highway

Now the Gwydir Highway has been hit by yet another series of rock falls.

Grafton Gwydir Highways
Gwydir Highway

The Roads and Maritime Services has advised the road will face closures about 67km west of Grafton from next week for about two months.

Work will involve removing loose material along the slope, rock bolting and installing mesh to prevent rock falls.

There will be speed restrictions and traffic reduced to one lane 24 hours a day.

Pacific Highway roadworksRoadworks speed limit - potholes Halloween

The RMS also advises there will be major delays for several months on 155km of the Pacific Highway from Woolgoolga to Ballina to replace 170 bridges.

It’s a boring stretch of highway that most riders try to avoid, however one of the alternatives is the Gwydir, which is also out of action.

Instead, riders should try the boring and bumpy Summerland Way from Grafton north to Casino and on to Kyogle, then Queensland.

However, they may have to take the long through Woodenbong, rather the Lions Rd which has a dirt detour.

See also

Click here to read more about the Lions Rd.

Lions TT ride highways
The Lions Rd

The roadworks will make it interesting for Queensland riders heading south to Phillip Island to see Troy Corser in the Australian Superbikes in the opening round of the World Superbikes.

Click here for more details.

Highways closed

For more NSW road updates and highway closures, click on the RMS website, use the Live Traffic NSW App or call 132 701.

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Mark Hinchliffe
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12 Comments

  1. Beware of the back roads due to the following
    Trucks farm gates and anything that comes through them snakes roos dead roos fog and over zealous revenue enforcement numerous diesel spills and enormous potholes.

  2. Isn’t it funny, the NSW Government has announced record surpluses in recent times & wants to spend millions on upgrading/replacing sports stadiums in Sydney but cannot even keep the roads in NSW up to standard. Governments sell off tax-payer assets then use the money ensuring their own re-election by handing out money in city based electorates but are too short-sighted to realise that road & rail infrastructure is what supplies big cities. As a driver/rider I see many of NSW country roads and they are an absolute disgrace.

  3. What’s wrong with the Oxley highway then? It’s still a road. Oh!!! the speed limit dropped so you have you avoid it. Meanwhile the people that relied on the riders now suffer because of a government decision. The road is open with a section at a reduced speed where you might just have time to smell the roses along the way; not that you can smell many in the extra 7 or 8 mins that takes to do the 44km if you could manage to maintain 100 for the 44km length anyway.

    Just come to South Australia where almost every hills road is down to 80 because some brain dead riders/drivers ran off the road or into someone else in the bends. Most of us grew up on the very same roads when they all had 110 and we survived but today government policy demands that the less capable must also survive their own stupidity and so the capable get punished at 80.

  4. Bloke was killed on Oxley when he slid off at low speed in a corner
    wouldn’t usually even cause gravelrash
    but when he slid off the bitumen his head hit the post holding up a safety sign, broke his neck & killed him.

    RMS NSW has since then, at great expense, installed tens of thousands of posts(wire rope) right on the edge of the bitumen & on outside of bends.
    Guidelines for wire rope barrier installation explicitly warn against both these actions.

    Why is RMS NSW wasting my taxes installing roadside obstructions likely to kill me?

      1. Someone runs wide on a corner (target fixation), drops his bike, but is walking around OK immediately
        before his mate arrived.
        If this was on the Oxley, wire rope posts would rip off his leg & he’d bleed to death
        before his mate arrived.

  6. Not sure how old this story is – Woolgoolga to just south of Grafton now dual lane – it’s now the section South Grafton to Ballina that they will work on which I understand will take more than “several months” – more like a couple of years. However it is currently still quicker to stick to the highway if heading north (or coming south) then going via Casino – Lismore – Ballina (or reverse).

  7. I just don’t get it I am 68 going on 69 next month been riding two wheels all my life and still am.
    But the Pacific H/way has been in the news since the 1960’s work has been going on since then and nothing has improved!
    What is going on!!!!
    170 bridges to replace.
    Oh! that’s right J Gillard want’s the Australian govt to give more to her slush fund called “THe Global Partnership for Education” it’s just like her friends Hillary & Bill Clinton “Foundation for Education” slush fund.
    They don’t care about the road using taxpayer, they fly every where at our expense.
    I’d line all of them up and shoot the lot. They should be in court/jail for treason.

    1. Black Prince – “nothing has improved!” — when was the last time you travelled between Sydney to Brisbane (or reverse)? It is now basically dual carriage way from Sydney to just south of Grafton and is from Ballina to Brisbane. Yes it has been a stop start slow process but has definitely changed. Also I have no idea where the ‘170 bridges’ are mentioned in this article, the section of Highway that is being upgraded between Grafton and Ballina sure doesn’t have 170 bridges? In fact I’d doubt there are 170 bridges between the whole Sydney to Brisbane.

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