Duplicating the highway is an aim for South Coast MP Shelley Hancock, who has called on the federal government to commit to funding Princes Highway upgrades.
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Following comments from Transport and Infrastructure minister Andrew Constance calling for a dual carriage way south of Nowra, Mrs Hancock said it was “something we always aim for”.
“We have been travelling south upgrading the highway down to Nowra and south Nowra,” she said.
“We then have projects further south at Burrill Lake and Termeil where we have upgraded the highway.
“The minister was saying, to put that in context, that when the major projects are finished on the Pacific Highway, and that should be in the next couple of years, then we want to focus on making sure we can get 80/20 funding here so we can continue the duplication.”
Mrs Hancock called on the federal government to contribute the same amount of funding to the Princes Highway as the Pacific Highway.
She said the federal government currently contributed 80 per cent of funding to the NSW highway.
“That is another state highway. We want that funding model down here,” Mrs Hancock said.
“Why do we have to be neglected and omitted from any kind of funding formula they have?
“We have dangerous curves and bends everywhere between Nowra and Milton.
“Then there is Jervis Bay Road to contend with; just getting out of Jervis Bay is a nightmare. We have all the bends where the accidents have been occurring. We will get some safety barriers and some interim measures, but really they are just that, interim.
“We have to get some duplication right down into the electorate of Bega.”
Mrs Hancock said the Milton-Ulladulla bypass project was on her radar.
“We can’t stop. We have to continue with design work and we have to continue to lobby the federal government but we keep failing,” she said.
“The bypass would have to be in our ten-year plan. I just drove through Milton on a quiet day and it was pretty damn busy. That issue of Milton won’t go away.
“The bypass is certainly one of the major projects that I continue to talk to the minister for roads about. Every time someone writes to me, I say here is another person. We really, really want this bypass but, again, that is hundred of millions of dollars.
“If we don’t get assistance from the federal government, how do we do it at a state level. We don’t get the revenue they get. If they don’t start to help and start to get serious about assisting us, we are just not going to go anywhere.”
Emily Barton
Emily Barton is a Producer at The Canberra Times.
Emily Barton is a Producer at The Canberra Times.
