Construction of a by-pass of Urunga is now expected to commence early next year.
Following negotiations between the Australian and NSW Governments a bypass of Urunga is a step closer, with construction companies interested in designing and upgrading the Urunga to Nambucca Heads section of the Pacific Highway having until February 23 to register their details with the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese said this 22 kilometre section is part of the larger 42 kilometre Urunga to Warrell Creek project and is another important step in upgrading the Pacific Highway between Port Macquarie and Raleigh.
“Once completed in 2016, the Urunga to Nambucca Heads upgrade will deliver safer, smoother driving conditions for the 15,000 motorists and truck drivers who use this section of the Pacific Highway each and every day,” said Mr Albanese.
The upgrade of the Urunga to Nambucca Heads section had been agreed between Ministers Albanese and Gay before they became aware of a news story on the issue which aired on Channel 9 last week.
A shortlist of applicants will be chosen in May and invited to submit tenders. In the meantime RMS will continue with land acquisitions and investigations to prepare this section for the start of major construction in early-2013.
NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay said he was pleased the Federal and NSW governments had agreed to develop an intergovernmental agreement.
“The agreement will define the priority, timing and funding for all the remaining sections yet to be upgraded and duplicated. This agreement will deliver the certainty that the community and interest groups have long demanded,” said Mr Gay.
“We are determined to do all we can in partnership with the Commonwealth to complete the full duplication of the Pacific Highway by 2016.”
State MP, Andrew Fraser, whose electorate takes in Urunga, said in the wake of the January 8 crash that claimed two lives, the Federal and State Governments should re-prioritise funding from other road projects to fix black spots on the Pacific Highway.
Mr Fraser told the Nine Network that spending money on the Oxley Highway in Rob Oakeshott's seat instead of the Pacific stretch at Urunga was ''the greatest act of political bastardry'' he had yet seen.
A spokesperson for Mr Oakeshott said funds for the Pacific Highway upgrade at Urunga were not diverted to the Oxley Highway upgrade.
“The claim is wrong. The NSW Government’s Roads and Maritime Services website confirms that the Oxley Highway is a NSW Government project, funded by the NSW Government. Three consecutive NSW Budget papers also confirm the funding source,” she said.
“The Roads Minister Duncan Gay might like to look at his own website before making such disgraceful claims.”
In the Urunga crash a truck and a ute collided, killing the ute's 38-year-old driver before an 11-year-old boy was killed when the truck ploughed into his family's holiday house.
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