Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) is proposing a Foxground and Berry bypass which would provide a four-lane highway with median separation for approximately 11.6 kilometres on the Princes Highway between Toolijooa Road and Schofields Lane. The alignment would include a bypass of Berry with access ramps at the north and south of the town.

RMS has developed and updated a preferred northern alignment and design for the Berry bypass through an extended program of discussions with residents.

Regional Manager's weekly update

Today's updates include:

• Latest TIG meeting #13 notes;
• A design development and costing fact sheet for the southern review, including a process chart;
• A draft chart outlining a potential environmental assessment process for a northern alignment;
• Fact sheet on the Kangaroo Valley Road interchange; and
• Updated Issues, Actions and Outcomes Register (including the response to the April 30 southern design submission).

As we draw closer to a decision point, I want to reiterate that though some of the community may disagree with the final decision, the rules of the process that the project team have been following over the past five months have been very clear so the project can move forward. There must be:

• Equal access for all to information;
• Consideration of all community comments by the TIG;
• A diligent and even handed cost estimate that allows for a real north /south comparison;
• A robust review of the findings of the TIG by an Independent Reviewer;
• An understanding by the community that there will need to be tradeoffs and that not everyone will be happy; and
• Ongoing work on the northern option, concurrent with the southern option, so that no further time is lost and what is being learnt in investigations for the southern option can be applied where relevant to the preferred north.

This process is important, and it is critical for us all, within the project team and the community, to be aware of these principles at all times.

The Independent Review team is also using these principles in their review. Comments and questions from the community are being passed on to them through General Manager Development Program to whom they report.

A recent example of how this process has worked is the way the TIG and Independent Reviewer handled a community member's submission of a further revised southern design suggestion.

At the request of the Independent Reviewer, the TIG checked the compliance of the design to ensure that it was compliant with AustRoad (international best-practice) guidelines and the relevant RMS design policies.

The submission was found to be non-compliant and no improvements or benefits to the existing southern route were able to be derived. Previous iterations have however lead to design possibilities and these have been included in the Issues Actions and Outcomes Register and addressed as provisional items.

Please note that next week RMS will be publishing and distributing on this website and through a letterbox drop a new fact sheet providing information on how the review report is structured. This will assist the community in reading the report.

Thank you for your continuing interest in this important project for the South Coast. I know how much personal time and commitment many of you have put into the process. It is now our job to ensure that we get an outcome for the broad community by passing on a balanced and robust report to the Government.

Brad Turner
RMS Southern Region Regional Manager