Saltram Creek, and flood management coordiantion (+Plan B)

I am not aware if Council possesses a flood model or not, and if yes, whether any flood maps are published anywhere for general public access. I am also not sure how often the levees are monitored for structural stability and where their maps are archived.

But I understand that given the number of occasions in the last couple of years where Saltram Creek at Eleven Mile Drive was flooded, there has been no attempt by Council to apply a sustainable solution for this issue. The road surface selling has never recently been done to remain intact for a long time, and the bridge drainage is not fit for purpose.

During the last major flood incident in Bathurst, surprisingly, the Great Western HWY at Bunning's junction was blocked for a couple of days, demonstrating that there was no coordination between various decision-makers and authorities, and no plan B at all. What the general public saw was no understanding of the extent of the issue by the authorities. Police were present at the junction, but not 3 km upstream to stop the traffic flowing in, and there were a large number of trucks in the gridlocked traffic. There were sirens on by the firetrucks for no reason, but I understand that they are designed to pump water out of their tank, not to take water in or transfer it somewhere else. There were random updates on social media, but no coordinated information sharing through trustable and easily accessible media (e.g., local/community radio, Council website, or even SES Bathurst). Hence, everyone was shocked, confused, stressed and basically immobilized. No one knows in how many cars there was a single adult with more than one child, desperately trying to go to the other side of the blockage. But they everyone was there for at least 3-4 hours until magic could happen.

In the middle of this confusion, Hamilton St at Eglinton had a peak traffic that has never been designed for, because somehow many people realised that they can use Eleven Mile Dr to go to the other side of the river blockage.

So, when the Eleven Mile Dr bridge and road has naturally been found to be so critical for the area by the general public, it should receive a lot higher level of acknowledgment by the authorities for its importance and should be managed and maintained a lot better to ensure its longer-lasting integrity for the benefit of a large community using it on a daily basis.

Thank you anyway for providing this means for us to share feedback.