Residents and visitors travelling between the Scenic Rim and the Southern Downs will have to schedule in a 160 kilometre detour for the next four months.

The news comes amid the closure of the NSW border and guard rail repairs announced by the Scenic Rim Regional Council on The Head Road at Carneys Creek.

About 200 metres of guard rail on the steep upper section of The Head Road below the Teviot Falls lookout will be replaced in a project set to begin on Monday August 23.

The timber posts supporting the guard rails on this section of The Head Road were burnt during the bushfires in late 2019.

Million dollar rehab

In mid 2020, the Scenic Rim Regional Council were awarded a $1 million grant from the Federal and State government to undertake rehabilitation works on the last four kilometres of the road leading up to the Teviot Falls lookout.

The work was to include the clearing of fire-damaged unstable trees, the replacing of guardrails and stabilising of batters based on the final geotechnical investigations and detailed design.

At the time, Council estimated that $497,000 would be needed to fund the design of the project and $490,000 for the reconstruction works.

Rock slope rebuild

Scenic Rim Regional council issued a statement on Monday saying its “geotechnical surveys indicated the foundation beneath the guard rail posts require stabilising, meaning the highly weathered rock slope will be excavated and rebuilt, and a section of the road cut out to allow the guard rail foundations to be suitably rebuilt”.

Mayor Greg Christensen said in the statement that the road “needed to be closed to ensure these vital repair works could be done safely”.

"Our council engineers undertook a very thorough and comprehensive investigation looking at whether the road could stay open during these repairs," he said.

"The terrain of the section of the road, the work that needs to be conducted, the timeframe of the project and costs involved meant it wasn't a feasible option to keep it open during construction.

"Closing the road to all traffic for these essential repairs will result in a large detour of 160 kilometres, however Council will work closely with Carneys Creek residents who use this section of road on a regular basis to mitigate the impact as much as possible.”

Motorists driving from The Head to Boonah would normally be able to detour via the White Swamp, adding about 20 minutes to their drive.

But that detour takes the driver into NSW and back into Queensland, and the border gate is currently blocked due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Meaning that while the Border Gate on the White Swamp Road remains blocked to traffic, motorists will be obliged to take the 160km detour through Cunninghams Gap.

The state and federal governments are funding the works through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).