Warburton Highway landslip repairs

Works to repair the Warburton Highway landslip are now complete and we’ve now fully reopened the road.

Update - May 2023

We’ve completed works to repair the landslip on Warburton Highway. 

Major earthworks including excavating, stabilising, and rebuilding the road have been successfully completed by crews ahead of schedule.

We thank the community for their patience while we repaired the damaged section of road.

Project stages

Stage one: Full closure

The stage one full road closure is now complete.

Stage two: Partial closure

The stage two partial closure is now complete.

Warburton Highway is now fully reopened.

Background

Warburton Highway was temporarily closed in October 2022 due to a landslip. The road was reopened to one lane of traffic while we investigated site conditions, developed designs and planned for repairs. 

Works to repair the landslip on Warburton Highway are complex and required detailed investigations and planning prior to commencing.

There are many factors we need to consider when planning to repair a landslip, and this location presents additional considerations specific to the Warburton community.

These include:

• investigating potential detour routes for all vehicles travelling in and out of Warburton
• planning for improvements on Old Warburton Road to cater to additional vehicles
• engaging with council, emergency services and public transport operators to understand access and local needs.

Considerations for detours:

• the design required to safely deliver long-lasting repairs to the highway and prevent future landslips
• maintaining the safety of all road users, contractors, and traffic management controllers
• access for the local community and people travelling to Warburton
• community safety in the event of an emergency
• understanding access requirements for emergency service vehicles, public transport buses, school buses and oversize vehicles including freight. 

Pictures above: Excavation works at the site

Picture above: base layers being built up

Picture above: Asphalting at the landslip site

Old Warburton Road works

In preparation for the landslip repairs, we worked closely with all emergency services agencies and Yarra Ranges Council to understand and mitigate the impact on the local community as much as possible.

We made improvement works on Old Warburton Road to support the road being used as a detour while the landslip was closed.

These works included:

• road surface repairs
• installing guideposts, reflective raised markers, temporary barriers, and line markings
• inspecting trees and removing any dangerous branches
• installing temporary lighting to assist motorists at night.

Old Warburton Road is managed by Yarra Ranges Shire Council. In planning for these works, our road safety experts consulted with council on improvement works required to support the road as a detour route.

Warburton Rail Trail works

In March 2022 we worked on a section of the Warburton Rail Trail near Warburton Bushland Reserve to clean and make improvements to the drainage to divert water away from the landslip site.

These works assisted with preparing the site before major works on Warburton Highway commenced and to help prevent future landslips.

Warburton Highway underground investigations

In February we closed Warburton Highway for one night to undertake underground investigations on both sides of the road to determine the depth we needed to excavate, and impact to both sides of the road.

Based on these investigations, we finalised plans to safely repair the landslip and how long we need to fully close Warburton Highway. 

Emergency services access

We are working closely with emergency services to ensure that access to the community is available in the event of an emergency, such as a bushfire and have controls in place throughout the works.

Community information session

The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) held a community information session on April 3 at the Arts Centre Warburton. 

Get in touch

For more information about this project, please get in touch.

Email: [email protected]