The Great Western Highway serves as a:

• Key freight route between Sydney and the Central West of NSW, including the timber industry in the Oberon area.

• Tourist route with destinations including the Blue Mountains, Historic Hartley, Jenolan Caves, Mudgee and Bathurst.

• Connecting and local road between the many towns and villages along its length.

The steep grades and tight curves on Victoria Pass and River Lett Hill limit the safe operation of heavy vehicles. The often slow speed of the heavy vehicles constrains how smaller vehicles travel.

About 14,000 vehicles a day travel on this section of the highway.  Heavy vehicles make up about 15 per cent of this traffic with more than half the road freight transport between the Central West and Sydney using the Great Western Highway.

The Federal and NSW governments, with the community, are investigating the Great Western Highway from Mount Victoria to Lithgow to determine the preferred alignment for an upgrade.

A highway upgrade would:

• Improve road safety.
• Improve road freight efficiency.
• Cater for the mix of through, local and tourist traffic.
• Be sensitive to the area's natural environment, heritage and local communities.