Showground Road in Castle Hill is a busy road which also services the popular Castle Towers Shopping Centre. The single carriageway section of Showground Road generally has only two lanes in each direction between Carrington Road and Old Northern Road.

In February 2011, The Hills Shire Council (Council) granted development consent to the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC) to expand Castle Towers Shopping Centre from its current floor space of 112,000m² to approximately 173,000m². This expansion is expected to further increase traffic on Showground Road, as well as put additional pressure on surrounding streets.

What is happening now?

Roads and Maritime Services (formerly Roads and Traffic Authority) has worked closely with the Council in assessing the development application from QIC for the proposed expansion of Castle Towers Shopping Centre. Based on this assessment, Roads and Maritime Services (formerly Roads and Traffic Authority) identified that the following works would be required on Showground Road to accommodate the increase in travel demand:

• Widening of Showground Road to at least four lanes between Carrington Road and Old Northern Road.
• Modifications to the intersection of Showground Road and Old Northern Road.
• Modifications to the intersection of Showground Road and Pennant Street.
• A new set of traffic signals at the intersection of Showground Road, Kentwell Avenue and Cheriton Avenue.
• A new set of traffic signals at the intersection of Showground Road and Rowallan Avenue.

• Bus priority measures at the intersection of Showground Road and Carrington Road, as well as other key signalised intersections.

• Left-in / left-out restrictions at the intersection of Showground Road and Britannia Road.

• Provision of off-road cycle facilities along Showground Road.

The above work has been made part of the conditions of the development consent for the proposed expansion of the shopping centre.

Proposed timeframe

QIC's program of work is unknown at this stage. This web page will be updated as information becomes available.

Funding

The New South Wales Government has provided funding of $1 million for the design of the Showground Road upgrade.

Further information

For further information regarding this project, please contact Matty Mathivanar on:

• Phone: (02) 8849 2465
• Email: Matty_Mathivanar@rta.nsw.gov.au