The Woodburn-Casino Road (MR145) is a critical transport link for the Richmond Valley, connecting essential freight routes, supporting the visitor economy and preserving community connections between Casino and the Mid-Richmond.

Council was successful in receiving $10 million from the NSW Government to be programmed over three years to upgrade the Coraki to Woodburn section of MR145 ($1m in 2020/2021, $2m in 2021/2022 and $7m in 2022/2023).  Council has now delivered this program of works, with details of each section shown on the map below.   

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Council adopted a different construction method for the works, changing to an unbound pavement to ensure the upgraded road would be more resilient.  Areas where the pavement failures needed full pavement replacement, including subgrade replacement, were identified. The existing pavement was then rehabilitated to a conforming subbase before placing an unbound base course layer conforming with all relevant Transport for NSW requirements. Drainage, including aggregate drainage, was installed where upgrading was required during construction.  

Council are now working with local contractors to complete the Dairy Flat and Thearles Canal areas, which are expected to be completed in mid-2024.  

Dairy Flat

Council has received $4 million of funding through the Australian Government’s Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program (NRRRP) 2022-23, jointly administered by the NSW Reconstruction Authority to improve the road along with design and construct a suitable culvert on Woodburn-Coraki Road to eliminate the current significant dip located at Dairy Flat. This will stabilise the embankment failure on the road from further cracking further. The construction of this culvert will improve the flood resilience of this vital transport link, allowing a longer timeline for the road to remain open during a flood event for evacuations to take place and also allowing the road to be reopened sooner after major flooding events.  

Thearles Canal

Council has received a further $1.4 million through the Australian Government’s Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program (NRRRP) 2022-23, jointly administered by the NSW Reconstruction Authority to upgrade the existing Thearles Canal culvert on Woodburn-Coraki Road. This will increase the capacity of this culvert with the outcome of improving the flood resilience of this vital transport link and the neighbouring properties. Consequently, reducing the risk of water overtopping the road and inundating neighbouring properties.