The $164 million upgrade of the Jervis Bay Road intersection with the Princes Highway south of Nowra is one step closer to completion, with the new flyover bridge set to open to traffic from Monday, 1 June. Motorists travelling southbound will be the first to use the new bridge, with motorists travelling northbound to follow shortly afterwards.
The intersection upgrade has been jointly funded by the Australian Government ($100 million) and the NSW Government ($64 million). This element forms part of the Princes Highway Upgrade Project, a coalition of the Australian Government with the state governments of NSW, Victoria and South Australia which identified a number of projects between Wollongong and Port Augusta that were needing of significant improvements to enhance safety and freight productivity.
Local government and organisations like SEATS, worked collaboratively with consultants GHD to secure the joint funding as part of the Princes Highway Corridor Strategy.
Six Princes Highway sectors were included in this Upgrade across the SEATS region:
- Waterfall – Jervis Bay Rd
- Jervis Bay Rd – Batemans Bay
- Batemans Bay (south) – NSW/Vic border
- NSW/Vic Border – Bairnsdale
- Bairnsdale (east) – Traralgon
- Traralgon (east side) – Nar Nar Goon interchange
A key outcome for the Project included the progressive addressing of lane and bridge constraints along the PH Corridor to improve overall safety and open additional access for larger freight configurations. Several major bridge crossings were embarked upon at Batemans Bay across the Clyde River and at Nowra across the Shoalhaven River. Both of these bridge upgrades opened the way for the more productive freight vehicles to service areas to the south of Bomaderry.
The upgrade will make navigating Jervis Bay Road onto the Princes Highway intersection much simpler, and significantly reduce the waiting time for trucks to exit those commercial and industrial operations in the Jervis Bay region and allowing all drivers to travel continuously under the bridge before merging onto the highway. This will significantly reduce congestion and delays at this well-known pain point.
Following traffic switching onto the bridge, work will continue on the western roundabout and associated local road network which will allow traffic to move safely and efficiently in all directions once the full intersection upgrade is complete.
Inhis visit to the site last week, the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese said that “This upgrade is about making the Princes Highway safer, more reliable and more efficient for locals, visitors and freight operators. This is a major milestone for this project and will help reduce congestion at one of the South Coast’s busiest intersections.”
“This is good for productivity, good for people visiting this beautiful part of the world, and will ensure more people get home quicker and safer.” the Prime Minister added.
SEATS supports those other elements of the Princes Highway Upgrade project to the south of Jervis Bay Rd including the bypassing of Milton/Ulladulla, upgrade to the bridge across the Wagonga Inlet at Narooma.
In Victoria, many roundabout intersections have been upgraded to assist the flow of freight across Gippsland towards Melbourne and by creating the Sale Alternate Truck Route will eliminate over 1,000 trucks a day travelling through Sale.
Chair of SEATS, Councilor Patricia White said that “the Princes Highway Upgrade project has, and will, deliver many benefits across a range of locations between Wollongong and Dandenong and she commended the input by many into such a wonderful outcome providing safety and freight productivity gains to many communities.”
The Deputy Chair of SEATS, Councilor John Tatterson, added that the bypassing of Traralgon remained the last major task for the Upgrade project and as its alignment is yet to be determined through the Latrobe Valley Mine Rehabilitation Plan, the overall Princes Highway Upgrade has still some way to go.
