Wolgan Road Reconstruction Project

On 9 November 2022, torrential rain falling on land stripped of vegetation following the Black Summer bushfires, caused landslides on sections of Wolgan Road at Wolgan Gap, leading to Council close the road. Council with funding partners NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) and Transport for NSW (Transport), are investigating a permanent access solution for the Wolgan Valley. The Project is governed by a Project Control Group comprising senior representatives from Lithgow City Council, NSWRA and Transport.

Council acknowledges that this has been a difficult project and that some members of the community are feeling heightened levels of apprehension and distrust towards the project. Council is committed to rebuilding trust through transparent decision making and information sharing. We will provide regular and honest updates as the project progresses.

To contact the project team, please email at wolgan.reconstruction@lithgow.nsw.gov.au.

More Information

Project Information

Project Timeline

November 2022. Council closed Wolgan Road in the interests of public safety. For more information, visit the Wolgan Road closure section below.

January 2023. Council opened the ‘Donkey Steps’ temporary emergency access track to provide some form of access for residents and businesses. For more information, visit the Donkey Steps construction and use section below.

June 2024. Council prepared and submitted an Essential Public Asset Reconstruction (EPAR) application to the NSW Reconstruction Authority for disaster recovery funding to design and construct a new access road. For more information, visit the EPAR funding application section below.

January 2025. Council engaged WSP Australia Pty Limited as a technical advisor to undertake a route options assessment and develop a concept design for the preferred road option to reconstruct Wolgan Road. This work is currently paused. For more information, visit the alternative road options section below.

March 2025. GHD completed a peer review of the initial slope risk assessment undertaken at the time of the road closure. This recommended a comprehensive re-evaluation of the slope risk. Between July and September 2025, GHD undertook a new SRA in line with recommendations 1 to 5 of the peer review. For more information, visit the Slope Risk Assessment section below.

Next steps

November 2025

Council is finalising the procurement of a technical advisor to undertake a strategic design for the reconstruction of Wolgan Road. This will allow for a comparison of the alternative road alignment and the road reconstruction as part of a multi criteria assessment. In addition, Council has commissioned GHD to explore actions to allow a temporary reopening of Wolgan Road under controlled measures.

Community Updates

Media Releases and correspondence

Reports

Wolgan Road closure

In February 2023 WSP prepared a Slope Risk Assessment (SRA) of Wolgan Road which identified an unacceptable risk to motorists. In response, Council decided to permanently close the road, significantly limiting access to local businesses and residents.

Supporting Documents

Donkey Steps construction and use

In January 2023, Council opened a temporary emergency access track, known locally as the ‘Donkey Steps’. While this access route has provided some relief, the absence of a safe, permanent access route means the community continues to be disconnected from employment, services, customers and social networks. The Donkey Steps track is open 24 hours per day, however recommended use is limited to daylight hours, and it is vulnerable to closure during bad weather. Its steep gradient means caravans and camper trailers are prohibited and it can only be used by four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicles – motorbikes, pedestrians and cyclists are prohibited. Property holders need to escort visitors and supplies into the valley via a locked gate and only limited heavy vehicle movement can be withstood.

The approved Essential Public Assets Restoration application provided funds for Council to undertake ongoing maintenance of the Donkey Steps and is install an electric gate to reduce the need for residents to continually unlock and relock the gate.

Supporting Documents

EPAR application

The 2022 rainfall event that led to landslides on Wolgan Road was considered part of an ‘eligible disaster’ under Disaster Relief Funding Arrangements (DRFA). Eligible disasters require a coordinated multi-agency response and are allocated an Australian Government Reference Number (AGRN). The Wolgan Road landslide was caused by AGRN 1034 which relates to flooding from September 2022 onwards. In June 2024, Council submitted an EPAR application for funding to restore damage to Wolgan Road caused as a direct result of eligible disaster AGRN 1034. The application included a restoration cost estimation.

In preparing this application, Council aimed to develop a solution that aligned with the DRFA and EPAR guidelines. The application comprised several detailed, expert reports that assessed the landslide damage and possible responses, to arrive at an estimated reconstruction cost. These included detailed ground displacement (InSAR) monitoring and LiDAR surveys which helped to quantify the extent of the damage caused by the escalating landslide caused by the flooding event commencing 14 September 2022 onwards (AGRN 1034). Multiple alternative strategic alignment options were evaluated prior to submission of the funding application. These were assessed via a Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) process involving Council, Transport and NSWRA.

Studies to inform the application found that addressing landslide risk on Wolgan Road to the technical standards required by the EPAR guidelines would in an unacceptable order of cost compared to the estimated cost of constructing a new road. For that reason, Council sought (and received) NEMA approval to progress an application based only on the alternate alignment options. The cost estimations in the funding application were verified by an Independent Technical Reviewer (ITR).

In July 2025, Council was awarded $385 million by the NSW and Commonwealth Governments to restore access to Wolgan Valley.

Many of the application documents can be downloaded using the links below. Some aspects of the application have been redacted to remove sensitive personnel details. Other files have been removed from this application package as those documents have been deemed sensitive. In the interests of transparency, the ‘Document Register’ file includes references to all of the project application documents and gives reasoning why they have been removed, if they’re not present in the application package download below.

Supporting documents

Road options assessment

Preparation of the EPAR funding application included the assessment of alternative route corridors including a corridor via the Old Coach Road and a corridor to the east of the valley. It also provided a high-level assessment of road alignment within that eastern corridor for the purposes of the funding application.

In January 2025, following a two stage public tender process, WSP was selected to provide technical advisory services to develop a concept design and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for an alternative road alignment along the eastern road corridor.

WSP developed a route options assessment to determine a preferred option within that corridor. Through a multi-criteria assessment (MCA) it identified “Option 1D” as a preferred option. However, concerns raised at a community meeting on 9 April 2025, led the project team to explore an alternative alignment that broadly followed the Donkey Steps. The latest iteration of this alignment is referred to Option 4.

Once complete, the Wolgan Road restoration design option will be compared with Option 4 through an MCA Process that considers impacts to Aboriginal heritage, biodiversity, visual amenity and landowners; operational costs; the need for temporary structures during construction; the amount of surplus material; and construction time and cost.

Council continues to remain open to exploring an alignment along the existing road if it is shown to be the best option based on an MCA

Option 1D

Donkey Steps Option 3

New Slope Risk Assessment

The February 2023 SRA concluded that rockfall and landslide risks along Wolgan Road were unacceptable. Wolgan Road has remained closed based on this assessment.

In response to community feedback received during the preparation of the EPAR funding application for a new road, Council agreed to commission an independent peer review of the WSP SRA.

This peer review was undertaken by GHD, who identified issues in the approach taken in the initial SRA and made eight recommendations that amounted to a comprehensive re-evaluation of the slope risk.

Council discussed the peer review outcomes with Transport, who advised a staged approach to delivering the eight recommendations. Consequently, Council agreed to act on recommendations 1 to 5 as part of a new SRA, and revisit recommendations 6 to 8 depending on the outcomes of that assessment.

In June 2025, Lithgow City Council engaged GHD to undertake a new SRA in line with recommendations 1 to 5 of the peer review. This was carried out between July and September 2025.

The GHD SRA has been undertaken in line with the Australian Geological Society, NSW Parks and Wildlife Service and Transport for NSW frameworks. The new SRA has showed that landslide risks to range between tolerable and unacceptable depending on the assessment framework used, the scenario assumed, the subject at risk and the risk location.

Supporting documents

Contact Us

For information on the Wolgan Road Reconstruction project, please contact: wolgan.reconstruction@lithgow.nsw.gov.au