Great Ocean Road - December Update
December 15, 2017
Road Status
The Great Ocean Road is OPEN to all traffic. Two lanes are available along most of the tourist road from Torquay to Allansford. Temporary traffic management is in place at works areas in some locations.
The Great Ocean Road is reduced to one lane at only two locations - at Separation Creek where we are doing devegetation work in preparation for soil nailing in the new year and at Grey River where we are constructing a new bridge.
Landslides
VicRoads has completed work on four landslides on the ocean side of the Great Ocean Road.
Construction crews built two 3.5m tall concrete retaining walls along a 60m section of the Great Ocean Road at Wye River, which will make the road safer, stable and sustainable well into the future.
Work was also completed on a third 12.5m ocean-side retaining wall east of Separation Creek on the Great Ocean Road and at a fourth 45m-long retaining wall, between Wye River and Kennett River, at Monash Gully.
The Great Ocean Road at all landslide sites has been re-asphalted and reopened to two lanes of traffic.
Boom Gates
VicRoads has introduced portable boom gates at road maintenance sites along the Great Ocean Road. The gates help traffic management teams regulate the flow of traffic through a number of project sites along the tourism road.
Paddy’s Path
VicRoads and the Department of the Environment, Land, Water and Planning are progressing with works on Paddy’s Path at Wye River to ensure it is open for the Christmas/summer holiday period.
VicRoads has installed a balustrade along the ocean side of the path, either side of the new bridge across the landslide zone, for about 50m and another safety fence along the upper retaining wall on the hill.
The path, which links the Wye River and Separation Creek communities, is scheduled to reopen the week before Christmas through to Sunday, February 4, 2018. Geotechnical works will then resume and VicRoads will aim to reopen the path at weekends, from Friday afternoons to Monday mornings.
Road Works
VicRoads staff and contractors will minimise road works in the Wye River area between December 22 and February 4, during the peak summer holiday season to aid holiday traffic.
Preparation work on another 300m-long soil nailing zone along the Great Ocean Road between the stone-faced retaining wall and Stanway Drive began this week with the removal of vegetation. Soil nailing will begin in the zone in early February, 2018.
Erosion Control
Work to stabilise up to 50 landslide sites between Jamieson River and Kennett River was completed last week. The sites have been stabilised with a mix of solutions including soil nails, hydroseeding, erosion control mat and steel mesh.
Work was completed late last week draping and pinning rock-fall netting on six cliff faces in the Kennett River area to prevent dislodged rocks falling onto the road.
At Big Hill, just east of Lorne, the installation of rock-fall netting on 360m of cliff face has also been completed.
Grey River
VicRoads contractor Ace Contractors Group has completed setting bridge piles into both banks of the Grey River, east of Apollo Bay. Concrete abutments have also been completed to support six single-span beams for the new bridge. The 25m-long beams will be transported to the site early on the mornings of January 17 and 18, 2018, and lifted into place. One lane of the Great Ocean Road is temporarily closed on both approaches to the construction site. Traffic management is in place. Both lanes of the existing bridge will be reopened to holiday traffic from December 22 to January 8, 2018.
Apollo Bay
Road construction and asphalt works have been completed on the Great Ocean Road in Apollo Bay, between the golf course at Nelson Street to the Barham River bridge. The last section of asphalt was laid last week. Line marking has been completed.
Princetown
At Princetown, 7km of road reconstruction work is progressing on three sites on the Great Ocean Road, 15km east of Port Campbell. The first section has been sealed. All work is due for completion mid March.
Great Ocean Road guard rail
Work is progressing on repairing sections of existing guard rail and installing lengths of new rail over various distances, totalling about one kilometre, between Kennett River and Jamieson River. There will be minor interruptions to traffic at these work sites. Work is scheduled for completion before Christmas.
Childers Cove
Work is progressing on the rehabilitation of the Great Ocean Road east of the Childers Cove intersection at Nirranda, 36km east of Warrnambool.
These works are part of the $3.6 million upgrade project to address a history of run-off-road, rear-end and other crashes at the intersection of the Great Ocean Road, Childers Cove Road and Mathiesons Road, between Peterborough and Allansford.
About 1600 vehicles travel on this section of the Great Ocean Road each day. The project involves upgrading the intersection and resealing the road surface. A T-intersection will replace the current two Y-intersections. Traffic management will be in place for the duration of the project.
Colac-Lavers Hill Road
A new 50m retaining wall on the Colac-Lavers Hill Road, about 5km from Gellibrand, has been partially constructed after a landslip in mid November. One traffic lane has been closed with temporary traffic lights installed to ensure the safety of all road users.
Once the new retaining wall is in place, we will repair and resurface the damaged section of road and restore the speed limit to 100kmh. Construction should be completed by the end of this year.
Anglesea Safety Works
To improve safety on the Great Ocean Road between Forest Road and Coalmine Road, Anglesea, we have installed a wide centre-line rumble strip treatment and roadside edge in both directions. The works along 800m of the Great Ocean Road, in partnership with the Transport Accident Commission, provide additional separation to traffic travelling in opposite directions on this winding section of the tourist road. Cars are not permitted to cross the centre double lines.
Great Ocean Road
VicRoads has begun preliminary survey work on Anglesea Road and the Great Ocean Road as part of a road safety project funded by the TAC’s Toward Zero program. The survey involves road pavement investigations, survey data collection and a cultural heritage assessment, which are imperative in helping to determine design and safety improvements. The survey work, running until December 22, will require speed reductions and some lane closures for short periods, between 9am and 5.30pm weekdays.
Forest to Apollo Bay Road
Drainage works are underway at various locations along the Forest to Apollo Bay Road. Work will cease during the Christmas-New Year period from December 15 to January 8. Major asphalting patching at six locations on the Forest to Apollo Bay Road and three on Skenes Creek Road will be completed before Christmas.
Anglesea Pedestrian Refuge
VicRoads has installed a pedestrian refuge on the Great Ocean Road outside the Anglesea Surf Life Saving Club to create safer pedestrian access for beachgoers. The footpath to nearby Harvey Road has also been realigned. Works are due to be completed mid-December.
Get in Touch & More Information
VicRoads has a designated webpage for Great Ocean Road landslide information and traffic conditions.
To sign up to our E bulletin distribution list email
If you have a question, or want to find out more we would love to hear from you. VicRoads appreciates feedback and comments from the community. Email: