Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) recorded average daily traffic at Main Road, Cliftleigh and Main Road, Heddon Greta both before and after the Hunter Expressway opened in March 2014.

The road at Cliftleigh experienced daily traffic of approximately 8200 vehicles per day prior to the expressway opening, and 12,300 post-opening – an increase of 4100 vehicles per day.

Traffic on the same road at Heddon Greta pre-opening was approximately 11,300 vehicles per day, and post-opening measured 15,500 per day – an increase of 4200.

Yet the road has not received an upgrade, whereas RMS has funded improvements on four other feeder points to complement the Hunter Expressway.

The first was a $50 million project to upgrade six key intersections along the 13 kilometres of the main route from the M1 Pacific Motorway to Newcastle in August 2013. 

Another involved the provision of two westbound lanes on the New England Highway between the end of the Hunter Expressway and the Golden Highway, at a cost of $5 million, in March 2014.

RMS also completed maintenance work worth $1.7 million on Lovedale Road/Allandale Road in 2013, and $1.1 million worth of work on Buchanan Road, and provided upfront, capped payments of almost $2 million to Cessnock and Maitland Councils for safety improvement on these roads.

An RMS spokesperson advised that work was also completed to support local roads joining the expressway, under the control of councils “which may have been affected by the opening of the expressway”.

This included a $2.26 million project for a two-lane, sealed road to connect Stanford Merthyr and Kurri Kurri in December 2013, and an $8.87 million roundabout at the intersection of Maitland Street and Mulbring Street/Tarro Street at Stanford Merthyr to provide improved access for residents in May 2013.

RMS completed investigations in December 2013 on Main Road at Testers Hollow to determine the suitability and feasibility of potential upgrade options for the road. 

“The investigations showed any solution to provide a flood-free route through Testers Hollow is a complex one requiring both flood mitigation and road-related measures,” the spokesperson said.