Rocky Road
It has been a long and winding road, but council work crews are on the home stretch of a building project designed to safeguard the coastal road between Bingil Bay and North Mission Beach against further onslaughts from the sea.
Cassowary Coast Regional Council Manager Technical Support, Tony Rooks, hopes to have completed the painstaking project on the road by the end of May.
Alexandra Drive was hammered by Cyclone Larry in 2006 and efforts to restore the rock wall which protects the narrow road from the sea have been hampered by not one, but two tropical cyclones, in the past five months – Ellie and Hamish.
The wall has now been significantly reinforced with sulphate-resistant rocks transported from local quarries and positioned on site by locally-owned excavators. (Sulphates in salt water break down rocks.)
“Following requests from residents, the height of the rock wall is currently being reduced to soften the outlook and some of the larger rocks are being relocated away from the base of trees,” Mr Rooks said.
“The council will then implement an appropriate revegetation program to enhance the wall. We have consulted the Environmental Protection Agency about suitable low-growing plants for the site.”
Mr Rooks expressed his thanks to motorists and other road users for their patience during the road work on Alexandra Drive.