Tourism operators say "there's a light at the end of the tunnel" for residents of the small village of Tyalgum, which lost a main road during flooding about a year ago.
The $16 million contract to repair a major landslip on Tyalgum Road on NSW's north coast was formally awarded to local construction company SEE Civil on Monday.
Local tourism operator Brad Sims from Discover Tyalgum said the announcement was a huge relief, given the enormous burden the landslip had placed on residents and businesses.
"This announcement allows all of us to breath a big sigh of relief because the work is now starting," he said.
"That means there's a light at the end of the tunnel."
Landslip's toll on residents
Mr Sims said the road closure meant children had been spending up to three hours travelling to and from school each day.
"It's an hour and a half for me to take my kids to school and back and it used to take me about half an hour," he said.
"For young kids to be spending three hours travelling, is enormous."
Mr Sims said the closure also had a detrimental impact on businesses because "lots of tourists stopped coming".
"That caused all of the businesses to suffer enormously," he said.
"People went on the dole for the first time in 15 to 20 years."
Tyalgum resident Ann Whelan lived on the eastern side of the landslip and said the extra driving distances had caused a lot of financial hardship.
"If I want milk or bread I have to drive all the way into Murwillumbah instead of just ducking down to the shop, which is only a two-minute drive," she said.
"It's been a big inconvenience for everybody."
The 'crack' costly for farmers
Tyalgum Creek farmers had also been significantly impacted by the road closure over the past 12 months.
Organic vegetable grower Rod Bruin estimated that "the crack" had cost his business $60,000 to $70,000 so far.
"We run our own truck four times a week to market, so you've got an extra hour's travelling time to each market," he said.
"The other road's pretty bad so tyres, people are getting punctures and blowouts, and things are falling off the truck from carrying loads on the other road, which is not really sustainable."
A huge task to stabilise land
SEE Civil construction manager Robert Blyth said repairing the road was "complex" because the landslip was much deeper than the top few metres of soil.
He said it would require more than 200 piles to fix the site's stability issues.
"The piles could be 20 to 30 metres deep to make sure they're secured into solid ground," Mr Blyth said.
He said it was the equivalent of a three-to-four story building being built underground.
Design work for the road is expected to take until May to complete, with construction expected to begin at about the same time.
Mr Blyth said the first priority was stability work to allow for a one-lane road with traffic lights, which was expected to open later this year.
He said he expected the full project to be completed in early 2024.
Council acknowledges 'frustrating' delays
Tweed Shire Council Mayor Chris Cherry acknowledged the damaged road had been "incredibly frustrating" for residents and thanked them for their patience.
"It is our biggest and most complex landslip so it has taken a very long time to try to work out how to best fix it," she said.
"I really understand that from the Tyalgum residents perspective it has been incredibly frustrating to have to wait so long for these repairs."
In addition to the $16 million contract, a further $4 million will go towards additional costs to repair the road, such as land acquisition and site work, bringing the total cost to $20 million.
