Dignams Creek Bridge on the Princes Highway

Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) proposes to realign the Princes Highway at Dignams Creek.

In the 2012/13 NSW Government budget, $1 million was allocated to continue planning for the realignment of the Princes Highway at Dignams Creek.

Highway upgrade concept design

RMS placed the concept design for the Princes Highway upgrade at Dignams Creek on public display to seek the community's comments and feedback on the proposal from 30 November 2012 until 8 February 2013.

RMS is currently reviewing and considering the feedback received and will publicly release an issues report that provides responses to those issues received from the community.

You can view the design on the latest community update (PDF, 600KB). More documents are available for view or download on the project documents page.

Key Features

The key features of the project would be to:

• Construct a new highway to current road design standards.
• Construct a new bridge over Dignams Creek replacing the existing bridge.
• Relocate the intersection of Dignams Creek Road with the Princes Highway for improved road safety.
• Upgrade the existing southbound overtaking lane.

Flora and Fauna

The proposed alignment would result in disused sections of the existing Princes Highway being removed and revegetated. Wildlife corridors between Gulaga and Kooraban National parks would also be maintained with fauna crossings installed as part of the road upgrade.

Project benefits

• Improved road safety with better road alignment.
• Reduced vehicle carbon emissions due to improved grades and curves.
• Improved travel times for Princes Highway motorists.
• Safer crossings for local fauna.

Community involvement

RMS publicly displayed a preferred road corridor and alignment for comment in December 2010 and consulted directly with affected land owners and local councils. The road alignment displayed in December 2010 required large scale bridge and road works and would cost approximately $85 million. A register of the issues (PDF, 35KB) received from the community during this time is available to view.

As part of the ongoing planning process, RMS is now reviewing the proposed road corridor and is investigating an alignment to the west of the existing Dignams Creek Bridge. This alignment would assist RMS to achieve a project that gives better value for money.

The western option now being investigated has lower cuttings and embankments in the Dignams Creek valley and could be built at a considerably lower cost. The concept design was placed on public display until 8 February 2013. An issues report will be placed on the site that details the RMS response to the submissions received.

A meeting was held with the Dignams Creek Community Group, community members and RMS staff on 12 December 2012 to discuss the Princes Highway upgrade concept design. A copy of the meeting notes (PDF, 91KB) is available to view or download.