SOUTH Coast based MPs Shelley Hancock and Gareth Ward both agree Nowra will need at bypass at some time.
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But at the moment their focus has been securing the new crossing of the Shoalhaven River at Nowra and work further south, including the Milton Ulladulla bypass.
Speaking at the sod turning for the new $342 million Nowra bridge, Mrs Hancock said there were "other projects ahead of a Nowra bypass."
"That doesn't preclude the planning for a bypass of Nowra," Mrs Hancock said.
"But I'm sure you're all aware we are concentrating on the Milton Ulladulla bypass, at this stage in this planning round.
"There are other projects that are ahead of the Nowra bypass.
"But that doesn't mean to say Gareth and I don't talk regularly about that project. In the future that has to happen.
These things are not easy to achieve. We can't just say give us another $5 billion for a bypass.
- South Coast MP Shelley Hancock
"We can't just get money from nowhere we have to go through ERC [NSW Cabinet Expenditure Review Committee], we have to go through cabinet, we have to go through ministers, we have to go through the treasury, which is very difficult.
"These things are not easy to achieve. We can't just say give us another $5 billion for a bypass.
Read more: Nowra bridge has seen a lot of history
"We will continue to work on that. We will be relentless on that but there are other priorities further south that also have to be considered."
Mr Ward agreed a bypass of Nowra would be needed "at some stage".
There are other priorities further south that also have to be considered.
- South Coast MP Shelley Hancock
"I know after this [announcing of the start of work on the new Nowra bridge] there will be calls for a bypass," he said.
"But no one is going to go around Nowra to come into it. That's the whole point of a bypass.
"Sure I want to see it. But this [the new Nowra bridge] is about the immediate needs.
Sure I want to see a Nowra bypass. But the new Nowra bridge is about the immediate needs.
- Kiama MP Gareth Ward
"Could you image if the old bridge had to be closed and we've seen that before. The traffic congestion that would cause with just three lanes coming in and out of Nowra and Bomaderry?
"This is about securing the crossing for the future. We need this now."
Mr Ward said some planning work has been done for a bypass, including a corridor "out towards the back of Nowra" being preserved as part of the Regional Environmental Strategy.
"Certainly a bypass will need to come but this is about immediate needs," he sad.
"A bypass certainly would alleviate traffic at some of those key congestion times and Shelley and I will continue to raise it as we have in the past.
A bypass is something that would go around Nowra. The traffic congestion is created internally within Nowra - 85 per cent of the traffic on this bridge each day is local traffic.
- Kiama MP Gareth Ward
"A bypass is something that would go around Nowra. The traffic congestion is created internally within Nowra - 85 per cent of the traffic on this bridge each day is local traffic.
"Hence why I raise the issues around the Nowra road network and that needs to be corrected to better facilitate traffic throughout this community to reduce some of that congestion."
The final plans and designs for the new Nowra bridge will be released in the next few weeks, with work by Fulton Hogan expected to start on the southern side of the river by August.
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Robert Crawford
Robert Crawford is a senior journalist at the South Coast Register, for Australian Community Media . Everyone's got a story, what's yours? Email robert.crawford@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Robert Crawford is a senior journalist at the South Coast Register, for Australian Community Media . Everyone's got a story, what's yours? Email robert.crawford@austcommunitymedia.com.au
