The reconstructed cliffside road leading to Binna Burra Lodge in the Gold Coast hinterland is being touted as a feat of engineering that could become an attraction in itself.
The precarious pass was destroyed in bushfires last September that razed the resort's heritage-listed lodge and surrounding sections of Lamington National Park.
The road is scheduled to re-open in late August, just weeks shy of the first anniversary of the fire.
"It is very challenging conditions when you have a road built on the edge of a cliff," said Binna Burra chairman Steve Noakes.
"When people have the opportunity to come back and visit the wonderful rainforest they'll also be able to have a great experience and view a rather remarkable engineering feat.
"I think the road itself might become an attraction."
Equipment abseiled to remote site
Stabilising steeply sloping ground was a difficult task for engineers and construction crews, who worked on the road 24 hours a day for the first eight months of the project.
"In a bushfire all of the stable soils and the stable rocks that were held together by root systems, by vegetation, by undergrowth, all disappear, and you only need a little bit of rain for the whole lot to come down," said Paul Noonan, Transport and Main Roads regional director.
"Safety for workers has been a major challenge for us because I have had crews dangling on ropes, abseiling with major pieces of drilling equipment.
"It has been really tough, challenging and demanding work."
Loose rocks and debris, burned trees, guardrails and signage have all been replaced, with large-scale retention fencing, soil nailing and rock construction installed.
Mr Noonan said the work was so technically demanding that fulltime specialist personnel and geotechnical engineers were required onsite.
"There's lots to see but my real hope will be that the Binna Burra forest returns to its previous lush beauty and that we have an experience of driving through a rainforest and hopefully you won't notice the roadwork in a few years," he said.
"The most interesting features will be the massive rock retention fencing that we have had to install to make sure that any loose material that comes down in the future doesn't fall down onto the road.
"On the downslope people will see a substantial amount of work that has taken place to stabilise the road surface and that includes things like gabion rock construction, which is basically [a system of] wire cages filled with rock."
