Northern region

Alstonville Bypass - Bruxner Highway

Community day celebrations

The $97 million Alstonville Bypass was officially opened by the Hon Anthony Albanese, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, on Friday 27 May 2011.

BACKGROUND

Roads and Maritime Services managed construction of the 6.2 kilometre Bruxner Highway bypass at Alstonville and Wollongbar. The bypass commences at Sneaths Road, Wollongbar and rejoins the highway at the Tropical Fruit Research Station at Perrys Hill, east of Alstonville.

Major roadwork construction commenced in May 2009. The contract for construction of the Alstonville Bypass was awarded to Reed Constructions Australia Pty Ltd. The Australian Government funded this $97 million project.

PROJECT BENEFITS

The Alstonville Bypass is providing the following benefits:

Quicker journey times for local and through traffic.
Better traffic flow and safety along the existing highway.
Reduced through traffic and congestion in Alstonville and Wollongbar.
Reduced waiting times at intersections along the existing highway.
Better pedestrian access and safety in Alstonville and Wollongbar.

PROJECT UPDATE

Roads and Maritime Services recently commissioned a preliminary operational road traffic noise assessment. The results of the preliminary assessment show that the noise level contribution from the bypass is below the operational criteria at each of the four monitoring locations. This report is available on the project documents page.

To further reduce noise impacts on residents adjacent to the bypass, a low noise road surface, Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) is scheduled to be laid between late November and December 2011, weather permitting. Following the application of the low noise asphalt, the road traffic noise levels are predicted to be reduced by approximately 2 dBA.

Monitoring for the final operational traffic noise assessment is scheduled to commence in February 2012. The report is scheduled for completion by the end of March 2012. Copies of the final report will be available on this website.

Gateway landscaping treatments at the eastern entrance to Alstonville and the western entrance to Wollongbar are still to be completed. Roads and Maritime Services is currently working with Ballina Shire Council on design of these treatments. All remaining landscaping along the bypass has been completed and has been designed to better screen the bypass, once the plantings have reached a maturity of around 18 months.