Great Lakes Council is pleased to announce the re-opening of The Boulevarde at Winda Woppa.

The reconstruction work had a bitumen seal applied today, allowing the road to take traffic once more.

Council Manager Operations, Robert Fish said, “This work is a credit to those Council staff involved. It was completed in a quick timeframe, despite difficult working conditions. I’m delighted we’ve been able to limit the impact on residents and property owners.”

The reconstruction work included the placement of sand to reform the road embankment and to restore a small sand buffer beside the road.

“Unfortunately over the weekend part of the small sand buffer was lost from damage caused by a high swell,” said Mr Fish.

As part of the work additional reinforcement has been provided for through the placement of three separate cement modified gravel layers. These layers have been placed to protect the full height of the road embankment and were wrapped in a geotextile fabric.

“The layering design we used should provide added protection against future storms,” said Mr Fish.

Through upcoming dredging work in the next 6-12 weeks a larger sand buffer will be added to the road construction work offering further protection. A sand transfer system is currently being designed to provide for long term efficient at demand nourishment. Nourishment provides the most cost effective management of the Jimmys Beach hotspot.

“Because we were able to use conventional road building equipment to repair the damage to The Boulevarde, the project proved very cost-effective and quick. We can now move on to renourishing the beach through planned dredging work. A different approach would’ve resulted in a longer disruption to residents and property owners,” said Mr Fish.

Great Lakes Council has completed the reconstruction work with assistance from the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Funding scheme, administered by Roads and Maritime Services.

The natural disaster funding was made available to Council to enable quick restoration of key infrastructure damaged in the storm on 20-21 April.