Federal Member for Lyne Alison Penfold has welcomed the news the M1 extension at Hexham will open this Friday, saying it will make journeys safer, easier, and more reliable for people travelling between the Mid North Coast, Newcastle and Sydney.
Ms Penfold said while the project was located in the Hunter, its benefits would be felt well beyond it — including by thousands of people from the Lyne electorate who regularly travel south.
She said for people in Lyne, the Pacific Highway was the major connection south — whether you were travelling from Taree, Wingham, Forster-Tuncurry, Gloucester or the Camden Haven towards Newcastle and Sydney.
“The Pacific Highway is the road we use to get to specialist medical appointments, visit family, travel for work, get to the airport or take the kids away,” Ms Penfold said.
“It is also an economic lifeline for our region. Our truckies and businesses rely on it to move goods, our farmers rely on it to get produce to market, and our tourism industry relies on visitors being able to travel safely and easily to our communities.
“So removing a major bottleneck at Hexham matters to people hundreds of kilometres further up the road.
“It means a better trip south and a better trip home.”
Ms Penfold said the opening was an important milestone, but should also focus attention on the work still required along the Pacific Highway.
“The job isn’t finished,” she said.
“There are still congested and unsafe intersections along this corridor which need to be addressed, including at Medowie Road, Bucketts Way, Harrington-Coopernook and Houston Mitchell Drive.
“For Lyne, Bucketts Way, Harrington-Coopernook and Houston Mitchell Drive are not just intersections on a map – they are gateways into our communities used every day by local families, commuters, tourists, and heavy vehicles.
“We need to keep working towards grade-separated interchanges which remove dangerous crossings and turning movements from a national highway carrying growing volumes of traffic.
“We shouldn’t have to wait for worsening congestion or another serious accident before governments act.”
Ms Penfold said the history of the Hexham project demonstrated why governments needed to start planning major road improvements well before problems reached crisis point.
She said planning for this extension began back in 2004, and the preferred route and concept design followed in 2010.
“It has taken more than two decades of planning, funding, and construction to reach this point,” Ms Penfold said.
“Over that time governments have changed, Prime Ministers have changed and Premiers have changed.
“Successive Federal and State governments of different political persuasions have carried the project forward.
“That is how major infrastructure gets built.
“Twenty-two years from the beginning of planning to motorists driving on the new road also puts today’s ribbon-cutting into perspective.
“This project doesn’t belong to one government or one political party. It belongs to the generations of taxpayers who paid for it and the motorists, families, businesses, and freight operators who will use it.
“And it gives us an important lesson for what comes next.
“If major projects can take decades from planning to completion, today’s governments need the foresight to start planning the next generation of Pacific Highway upgrades now.
“Today’s governments won’t necessarily be there to cut the ribbons on every project they start. That shouldn’t matter.
“Their responsibility is to do the planning, make the decisions and commit the investment that will make this highway safer and more efficient for the next generation.
“So let’s celebrate what has been achieved at Hexham.
“Then let’s get on with finishing the job.”
