Washed away: Foster Mirboo Road was washed away by torrential rain in June but it is almost good as new again.

FOSTER Mirboo Road is on its way to being fully repaired after being reopened before Christmas.

The road which has been closed since June is set to be fully reopened by mid January if all goes to plan.

A large landslip which took out most of the land under the road and a large amount of the roads surface caused immediate closure.

The road has been temporarily open for locals to use during the Christmas period.

According to South Gippsland Shire Councils operations manager Fred Huitema said the road will be finished soon.

“Work is almost complete,” he said.

“Weather permitting; we hope it to be re-opened by mid January.”

Funding for the repair was given to council through the State Governments Natural Disaster Financial Assistance.

“The estimate to repair the slip was $200,000,” Mr Huitema said.

“And it is on track to come in on estimate or slightly below.”

The repair bill was originally thought to be in excess of $300,000.

Foster Mirboo Road resident Peter Williams is happy to have the road open again.

“Everything’s back to normal and good again,” he said.

Mr Williams is one of the many residents who had to travel an extra 30 minutes to get to the South Gippsland Highway via Ameys Track.

“Cost wise (the forced detour) was pretty bloody enormous to us and others,” Mr Williams said.

“Having it finished in its self is a big saving.”

Mr Williams liked taking the positive out of the blocked road as well.

“I enjoyed the quietness for the six months,” he said.

“It was wonderful but now in the last week or so I’ve noticed the traffic noise much more as people realise that the road’s open again.”

Mr Williams is happy with the standard of the

Other land slips from the wet year have caused havoc on South Gippsland’s roads such as Turtons Creek Road and Foster Boolarra Road remain closed.

Mr Huitema said it’s hard to tell what will be fixed next due to changing weather and priorities.

“It’s difficult to give a time frame (on other repairs) because we still have about 50 slips to repair out of over 100 and priorities are constantly changing,” he said.

“One wet day could determine which one we do next, however we hope to start on Foster Boolarra Road soon.”