New England Highway at Sunnyside

The project

The project involves the upgrading and realignment of a section of the New England Highway 17km to 19km north of Armidale. This section of the road has a poor road alignment and crash history.

The objective is to improve the road alignment to a safe 100km/h standard and to provide a consistent travel speed along the New England Highway.

Background

The New England Highway is the major link from the Hunter Region to the New England area and beyond.  The highway is also a major route for heavy transport from Sydney to Brisbane and provides an alternative route to the Pacific Highway.

This National Highway project is fully funded by the Federal Government.

The highway alignment 17km to 19km north of Armidale includes a series of sharp curves and crests in a rural environment and a poorly designed intersection.  The area has a poor crash history and over the years numerous crashes, some that have included fatalities, have occurred.

A realignment of the road is required to eliminate the poor standard of crests and curves. 

A fixed speed camera has been installed at the northern end of the project to assist in managing excessive speeds over this section of the highway.

Planning for this project has commenced. An environmental overview, preliminary geotechnical report and route options report have been prepared.

Proposed improvements

The proposed upgrade is needed to improve road safety, reduce increasing maintenance costs and reduce vehicle operating costs and travel times.  The proposed upgrade would help improve the movement of local, tourist, freight and commercial traffic between regional population centres.

This project will have the following benefits:

• The new alignment would provide an improved speed environment eliminating substandard curves and improving sight distance.
• Provision of a new wider carriageway would improve safety and meet current truck load bearing requirements.
• An improved intersection with Sunnyside Road would reduce crashes, improve sight distance and travel times.
• A new road pavement would significantly improve ride quality and reduce maintenance costs.
• It is anticipated that the severity and incidences of road crashes would be significantly reduced.
• Travel conditions and travel times would be improved.

Consultation

The RTA is consulting with Aboriginal stakeholders regarding the potential impact on cultural heritage.  The archaeological and cultural heritage reports should be complete by late 2007.

Adjacent landowners will be kept informed on the progress of this project.

Current status

The Federal Government has approved further investigation into the preferred option. The preferred option provides minimum 600m horizontal radius curves throughout and improves the intersection with Sunnyside Road.

The project environmental assessment is now underway and if the project is approved, tenders for construction will be called in mid 2008. Detailed design and geotechnical investigations are also being planned for late 2007.

The preferred option will involve acquisition from several landowners and discussions have commenced for this to occur.

More information

For further information please contact the project manager, Lindsay Nash on (02) 6640 1012 or email lindsay_nash@rta.nsw.gov.au.