WE have all complained at one time or another about being caught in traffic anywhere between Nowra and Wollongong on the Princes Highway.
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Thursday’s official opening of the $340 million Princes Highway upgrade at Gerringong by Premier Mike Baird and Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Duncan Gay was a time to celebrate.
A dual lane Princes Highway from Sydney to south of Nowra at Jervis Bay Road has moved a step closer.
Work is already well advanced on the $510 million Foxground to Berry Bypass and seems to be progressing much quicker than work at Gerringong.
That may well be mainly due to the fact the work is so visible.
The NSW government has also committed $550 million to the Albion Park Rail Bypass and $4.5 million for planning works on the Berry to Bomaderry section.
These works will take the amount being spent on upgrading the Princes Highway to more than $1.5 billion.
The work will eventually not only make travelling easier for motorists but will play a major role in the local economy.
It can only be a good thing for the local area to be closer in proximity to Sydney.
Credit must be paid to Kiama MP Gareth Ward. Elected on the promise to get the Princes Highway, which has claimed so many lives over the years, upgraded, the naysayers said it would never happen.
But through hard work and a lot of lobbying Mr Ward has managed to get what was once a pipe dream almost to reality.
Of course prior to this the upgrade of the highway at South Nowra was also completed.
The Bomaderry to Berry work may still be some time off and a stumbling block may be the replacement of the Shoalhaven River crossing at Nowra.
We have all heard the argument the Princes Highway is not a road of national importance and therefore doesn’t warrant or attract federal funding.
Certainly the Abbott government has put funding into the studies for the new river crossing but just imagine how much quicker the Bomaderry to Berry section of the highway could be upgraded if the feds tossed in a bit of cash.