Swamp Road starts in Dunmore and weaves its way parallel to the Princes Highway for six kilometres, joining Allowrie Street in Jamberoo. Kiama Council posted on their Facebook page that “Swamp Road remains closed due to water over the road.” The post mentioned, “Council will continue to monitor storm damage and assist with clean-ups through the week,” but that was April 7. Ten weeks later, nothing has changed.

Local residents are frustrated by the inaction of the Department of Main Roads and the Council regarding this heavily used road. One Kiama local, John, told The Bugle, “There are no flood meters that I've noticed, and I personally think it’s dangerous. I very nearly got stuck there one day and nearly destroyed my car, according to the garage.”

The flooding of Swamp Road is a serious issue requiring immediate attention. Many drivers are unaware of the floodwaters until it's too late, forcing them to backtrack 1.5 km. This often leads to risky decisions, such as attempting to drive through the floodwaters, posing severe safety hazards.

“Having travelled this road for over 40 years, I believe the Council should implement a policy to clearly indicate road closures at the Riverside Drive entrance, rather than halfway along the road at McGlinchey’s. This change could prevent many dangerous situations by encouraging drivers to take safer detours through Kiama rather than risking the flooded road,” says local resident Lynne Strong.

To complicate matters further, this road falls within both Kiama Council and Shellharbour Council area. So clearly, there needs to be some cooperation between the two entities in order to coordinate repairs and improvements. 

Jamberoo sits at the western end of Terragong Swamp, known locally as The Swamp, which was once a vast marshland covering the floor of the Jamberoo Valley. The Minnamurra River flows from Minnamurra Falls along the northern side of the swamp. Just east of the old butter factory on Factory Lane, the river enters a man-made channel that keeps it flowing on the northern side of the swamp; the original channel meandered through the broad eastern end of the swamp before crossing Swamp Road and running along the south side of the swamp.

Over 125 years ago, a drainage scheme transformed ‘the swamp’ into one of the most fertile and productive areas in the country, extensively used for dairy farming. The area has clearly evolved but faces ongoing challenges during high tide and heavy rainfall, as the river resumes its old course, forcing the closure of Swamp Road.

The state of this road highlights a broader issue of road maintenance in the area. Councils, strapped for funds, rely heavily on state government prioritisation and financial support for road maintenance. This situation leads to numerous roads being in disrepair, further compromising public safety. From an emergency response perspective, the lack of proper signage and flood meters is unacceptable.

Improving road safety requires engineering safer roads and vehicles, enforcing traffic laws, and educating drivers and pedestrians. The 2022 National Road Safety Strategy 2021–2030 report examined these issues and recommended actions:

• Deliver measurable safety improvements through infrastructure funding at all government levels and support local governments to embed and deliver road safety as standard practice.

• Deliver systematic safety improvements on a road corridor basis against baseline assessment network safety plans, which scope safety gaps across the network.

In NSW, the priority is to deliver a new Towards Zero Safer Roads Program by 2030, systematically building a safer road network through safety infrastructure and speed management. Amongst the priority actions for NSW was “to complete risk assessments on all regional roads and publish all available NSW road risk ratings to help ensure high-risk roads are prioritised for treatment and maintenance.”

Starting work on Swamp Road would be a significant step in the right direction, given this charter.

The Jamberoo Valley Ratepayers and Residents Association Inc. wrote to both Shellharbour and Kiama Councils on 7 November 2022 to express their concerns about road closure signage and the potential dangers to motorists. It would seem that the Traffic Committee apparently did not follow this up.