The Ballina bypass project will upgrade 12 kilometres to a four lane divided carriageway, from south of Ballina at the intersection of the Bruxner and Pacific highways to north of Ballina approximately 500m north of the intersection with Ross Lane at Tintenbar.

Roads and Maritime Services (formerly Roads and Traffic Authority) has formed an alliance with Leighton Contractors, Maunsell AECOM, SMEC and Coffey Geotechnics to design and construct the Ballina bypass.

Major construction commenced in June 2008 with completion scheduled for early 2012.

The northern end of the project from Cumbalum to Ross Lane was opened in March 2011. It was recently announced that the bypass section between Teven Road to Cumbalum would be open by Christmas 2011, with the remaining section from Bruxner Highway to Teven Road opening in early 2012, weather permitting.

Benefits  

• Improved road safety.
• Uninterrupted highway traffic flow.
• Easy access on and off the highway for local traffic.

Key features

A four lane divided carriageway with improved alignment and posted speed limit of 100 km/h.

• 12 kilometres of new four lane divided carriageway with six lanes between the Bruxner Highway and Teven Road.
• Improved traffic conditions within Ballina by removing through traffic.
• Fully separating the Bruxner Highway and Pacific Highway between the existing intersection of the highways and the Teven Road interchange.
• Interchanges at Teven Road and Ross Lane.
• Bridges over Emigrant and Sandy Flat creeks.
• Flood immunity of 1 in 20 years.
• Climbing lane up to Ross Lane.