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- 26 October 2004
Pacific Highway Upgrade
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Page: 11941
The Hon. AMANDA FAZIO [10.16 p.m.]: Tonight I wish to inform the House of further developments in the upgrade of the Pacific Highway. This week the New South Wales Government announced $55 million in funding for a Pacific Highway planning project. This project involves maps detailing the broad study areas for the planning project being released and the study corridors to be investigated running from south to north. People who travel the Pacific Highway on a regular basis—as I usually do between Sydney and Ballina, but I sometimes travel further north—will acknowledge that these areas require considerable work to improve the quality of the highway.
The State corridors are from the F3 to Raymond Terrace, which is 12 kilometres; Failford Road to Tritons Road north of Nabiac, 3.3 kilometres; Herons Creek to Stills Road north of Kew, 3.3 kilometres; the Oxley Highway to Kempsey, 39 kilometres; Woolgoolga to Ballina, 173 kilometres; and Tintenbar to Ewingsdale north of Ballina, 17 kilometres. From Woolgoolga to Ballina the study corridors to be investigated are Woolgoolga to Wells Crossing, 27.8 kilometres; Wells Crossing to Harwood, 69.4 kilometres; Harwood to the Iluka turnoff, 8.8 kilometres; the Iluka turnoff to Woodburn, 35.2 kilometres; and Woodburn to Ballina, 32.3 kilometres.
The final route for these upgrade areas will depend on a range of factors, including potential impacts on properties, agricultural land, businesses and the environment, as well as access to the highway from neighbouring towns and villages, and value for money. Following preliminary community consultation and investigations within each of the identified study areas, the Roads and Traffic Authority will develop route options for each highway section, which will be placed on display for public comment. The preferred route and concept designs will be identified and then prepared for the whole Pacific Highway by mid 2006.
We hear a lot of complaints about the condition of the Pacific Highway and the fact that it is not a dual carriageway from Sydney to the Queensland border. However, we must bear in mind a number of factors for this. One is that the project would cost a total of $2.2 billion. It is a New South Wales-Commonwealth upgrade program; therefore, it depends on funding being made available from the Commonwealth, as well as the funding commitments given by the New South Wales Government. It also depends on a whole range of other issues concerning the local environment. We are not simply talking about the preferred options for local communities; we are also talking about options that will do the least damage to the environment in general. Consideration must also be given to whether an option involves areas of national parks or other protected woodland areas and whether it will have an impact on fauna and flora.
For example, there has been a lot of concern about the length of time it has taken to develop the Bulahdelah bypass option. The original route for that bypass was found to be unsuitable because a young boy in Bulladelah found a rare underground orchid, which meant that the proposed route had to be changed. But as a result the local community is happier with the turnoffs that are being provided on the bypass for the township of Bulahdelah. The Pacific Highway upgrades are exciting developments for the people of New South Wales. We should remember that the Pacific Highway from north of Hexham to the Queensland border is almost 700 kilometres. The road serves as a key interstate corridor for the carriage of passengers as freight, and serves a region with a population of more than 500,000. This population more than doubles in peak tourist seasons, and is projected to increase to about 800,000 within 20 years.
Most honourable members will be pleased about the planning project. It is costing $5 million to upgrade the Pacific Highway to a dual carriageway between the F3 and Raymond Terrace—what is called the missing link. In that area drivers have to drop their speed from 110 kilometres an hour on the freeway to 80 kilometres an hour, and pass through a roundabout. Depending on which way they are travelling, they will either use an industrial back road through Maitland or cross the Hexham bridge and travel through the Port Stephens area. This missing link will be important. Between 29,000 and 46,000 vehicles a day travel the existing connection, and this improvement will greatly enhance road safety in that region.
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