3 hours ago
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Cracks in the surface – and movement beneath – have forced a key regional mountain pass to be closed, without a date for re-opening.
The Great Western Highway in New South Wales is closed in both directions at Victoria Pass, due to defects in the road surface and the structure beneath it.
The historic mountain pass – where the road drops down from Mount Victoria into Lithgow – is only two lanes wide, and built atop the convict-era Mitchell's Causeway, which is almost 200 years old.
Traffic was halted in the eastbound lane last Thursday, but cracks "identified in the pavement", as well as movement in the road's sub-structure, have prompted the single westbound lane to be shut today, Transport for NSW said.
In a media release, it said crews have been "working around the clock" at the site, but conceded it is "an evolving and complex situation and we have no timeline for when we will be safely able to reopen the highway."
The Great Western Highway is a major regional road in New South Wales, linking Sydney with the Central West region via the Blue Mountains. It is popular for passenger vehicles and freight trucks.
Statistics from Transport for NSW indicate about 11,000 vehicles use the Great Western Highway each day, 1800 of which are heavy vehicles.
Traffic is currently being redirected through Lithgow, Chifley Road and the Darling Causeway, before connecting back up with the Great Western Highway at Mount Victoria.
Sam Purcell has been writing about cars, four-wheel driving and camping since 2013, and obsessed with anything that goes brum-brum longer than he can remember. Sam joined the team at CarAdvice/Drive as the off-road Editor in 2018, after cutting his teeth at Unsealed 4X4 and Pat Callinan’s 4X4 Adventures. Off-road writer of the Year, Winner - Sam Purcell
