A major road upgrade is set to wreak havoc in Byron Bay, affecting outbound traffic, local businesses and Byron's economy, writes Sue Arnold.
THINKING OF COMING to Byron over the Christmas holidays?
Think again. Make sure to download movies on your smartphone, practice meditation, knitting, whatever keeps you happy, as you prepare to wait in huge traffic jams to get anywhere. It’s probably a good idea to make sure the car aircon is working, have some water, and maybe a picnic lunch in the Esky, because you could be there for a long time.
If you’re planning on spending time in nearby Mullumbimby, “Australia’s biggest littlest town” between October and February, don’t make the 20-minute trip from Byron without a lot of planning. Consider staying put for Christmas lunch and New Year’s Eve celebrations. Ask yourself and family – is it possible to have Christmas lunch in the car? How prepared are we to sit in the car for how long?
The shire is in total chaos as a result of major roadworks, drainage projects, new housing developments, affordable housing projects, creating a situation which will have significant, potentially dangerous physical, social, economic and mental health impacts on community and visitors alike.
Over 1.9 million tourists visited Byron Bay in 2024, an average of 5,205 visitors daily. In December 2024, around 170,000 visitors came to the shire. December to February is the busiest tourist season.
In 2010, Byron Bay was voted the best destination in the world by Europeans. In 2019, Byron ranked 11th among Australia’s most visited places by international tourists. As there’s no mandatory tourism tax, Byron ratepayers fund the tourism invasion.
The population of the shire is approximately 37, 826, with ratepayers coughing up the dollars required for funding community infrastructure and projects. Plus the damage done by tourist numbers.
Earlier this year, Byron Council, with a Green mayor and three Green councillors, announced a major road upgrade for Mullumbimby Road, which leads to the Mullumbimby township. Mullum, as it’s known by locals, is famous for its hippie subculture and is often spoken of as Australia’s anti-vaxxer capital.
Approximately 4,405 residents have made Mullum home.
The town is highly popular and growing as people are attracted to its counter-culture, laid back vibrant community, and charm. The town’s attractions include popular pubs, music and food festivals, markets, events, yoga, gurus, diverse international restaurants, spas, crystals, hippy gear, medicos, holistic therapists, and wonderful bakeries.
Back in the good old days of the 70s, Mullum Madness was top of the weed pops.
Mullum also has the only outdoor public swimming pool in the Shire. Byron Council chamber is in Mullum as well.
Mullumbimby Road is one of the busiest in the shire with an average of 13,000 vehicles using it every day. The main street will now have to cope with a significant number of heavy vehicles using the route, as they have no alternative way to get out of town.
Major work was supposed to start in the middle of 2025, taking around four months to finish. More delays postponed work to September and, more recently to 13 October, with an estimated four months to completion in February. The entire high season.
What this means is that the current pattern, with only one lane access for traffic to Mullumbimby on Mullumbimby Road, with delays up to 15-20 minutes inbound and outbound, will shortly only provide one lane inbound access to the township.
Lines of traffic will spread along crossroads leading to Byron and Brunswick Heads, causing major roadblocks. The only roundabout leading to the Pacific Highway will be circled with vehicles, making access a nightmare.
With the new start date, there’ll be no outbound traffic on Mullumbimby Road, including over weekends. Council has designated two minor rural roads as the outbound routes. Myocum Road and Coolamon Scenic Drive (CSD). Both these roads are narrow, windy and definitely not designed to cope with the anticipated traffic. Myocum Road has been selected to cope with heavy vehicles and CSD, with community access.
An estimated 640 heavy vehicles per day are to be diverted along Myocum Road, along with an estimated 8,260 cars. This is a road surrounded by farms with cattle crossing the narrow road as well as wildlife and farm vehicles.
Drivers will have to take their chances. Mullumbimby Road has no off-ramps in case of emergencies, Council’s options for any emergencies relies on “the road being cleared for emergency vehicles”. Except there’s no place for any traffic to move off road. Similar situations exist in both Myocum and CSD roads.
For visitors, any trip out of Byron’s town centre will be fraught with difficulties. On the south side of the town, drivers exiting Mullumbimby during the road shutdown using CSD to get to Byron will have to cross major traffic lines from the south already held up by more road closures for drainage works.
On the north side, the options of getting to Mullumbimby are limited to navigating the heavy vehicle road, taking your chances on CSD, or sitting in an eternal queue waiting to access the one lane to Mullumbimby.
Byron is supposed to be Australia’s ‘green shire’, a crown in the party’s voter support. According to their website, 'the party is founded on four pillars including ecological sustainability, grassroots participatory democracy, social justice and peace and non-violence.'
Unfortunately, at least three of the pillars are neither relevant nor practised as Byron’s “green policy”.
With no social contract or adequate consultation with the community, residents and businesses have been denied documentation, financial agreements, costs, budgets and any relevant information on the roadworks.
Options put up by experienced, qualified engineers focused on night work, better traffic staging, have been ignored by Council.
The economy will be impacted. More than 70 Mullum businesses are vulnerable.
Locals are genuinely terrified of the potential for major accidents on the only two available narrow, windy road exits from Mullum. The prospective inability for ambulances to get to accident scenes is a real concern.
There’s no evidence demonstrating Council has consulted with the Byron Hospital Emergency, medicos, health workers, ambulance officers and firies over any emergency plan. There isn’t one.
No management plans have been made to protect wildlife, which will be highly vulnerable with four months of heavy traffic impacting habitats.
If Byron is an example of anything, the complete failure of Councillors, voted in by the residents to protect the shire, is a show pony for the exponential loss of democracy, transparency, and community rights happening across the state as planning for big population increases, housing, and infrastructure takes priority.
If Byron is on your holiday agenda, you have been warned! Whilst Mullum may retain its title as the “biggest little town in Australia”, Byron Shire will be well qualified to become the gridlock capital of the nation.
Sue Arnold is an IA columnist and freelance investigative journalist. You can follow Sue on Twitter @koalacrisis.
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