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Hunter Expressway

New South Wales
Construction at the Belford end of the road.
Mud map fo Hunter Expressway.jpg
General information
TypeFreeway  (Under construction)
Length39.5 km (25 mi)
Built by
  • Hunter Expressway Alliance (Eastern section)[1]
  • Abigroup Contractors Pty Ltd (Western section)[2]
Route number(s) M15
Major junctions
ESE end
 
  • John Renshaw Drive
  • Wine Country Drive
WNW end
Location(s)
RegionHunter
LGA(s)
Major suburbs / towns
Highway system

The Hunter Expressway[3] currently under construction in New South Wales, Australia, is a 39.5-kilometre (24.5 mi) long dual carriageway freeway with two lanes in each direction, running generally north west from the Pacific Motorway at the Newcastle Link Road interchange to the eastern end of the Belford Bends Deviation on the New England Highway north of Branxton.[4] The road will allow traffic to bypass the Maitland area, Lochinvar, Greta and Branxton.

The planned link road was previously known as the F3 to Branxton link during planning and earlier known as the Kurri Kurri Corridor and was originally proposed in 1988.[5] Funding of A$1.5 billion for the road construction was announced in the 2009 Australian federal budget, and construction commenced on 11 August 2010.[6] The original contracted opening date was 20 September 2013,[7] but construction delays caused this to be deferred until 22 March 2014.[8][9][10]

History

Road design

While the road design approved in 2001 was for a speed limit of 100 km/h (60 mph), the Roads and Traffic Authority applied in March 2007 to make several changes, including revising the design for a speed limit of 110 km/h (70 mph).[11] The New South Wales Department of Planning approved those changes on 19 August 2007.[12]

The south eastern end of the road will connect to the interchange of the M1 Pacific Motorway and the Newcastle Link Road. The interchange will be significantly upgraded, with three additional bridges across the M1 north of the existing one and the provision of high speed on and off ramps from the new road towards Sydney while maintaining full grade separation.[13]

A full interchange will be provided on John Renshaw Drive near the ends of George Booth Drive and Buchanan Road. As part of the construction of that interchange, the southern end of Buchanan Road will be relocated to connect to the existing roundabout at the end of George Booth Drive.

A full interchange will be provided on Main Road between Kurri Kurri and Heddon Greta.

Half interchanges facing towards the south east will be provided at Loxford and Allandale.

A full interchange will be constructed between Greta and Branxton, with a link to the existing highway via a new bridge across the Main Northern railway line and a link to a new roundabout on Wine Country Drive south of Branxton.

The north western end of the link road will cross over the Main Northern railway line and join onto the existing highway. When the new road is opened, the new road will become the main through road and existing highway on the northern side of Branxton will become a half interchange for turning left on and off the south east bound side of the highway.

Pre-construction work

Core sampling in preparation for the F3 to Branxton link road

The Roads and Traffic Authority obtained approval in July 2006 to allow the construction of the road to be staged.[14] This does not mean that the road will be opened in stages but that preparatory work including relocation of high voltage power lines, gas mains, telecommunication cabling, water and sewer mains and the South Maitland Railway line can be carried out prior to commencing construction of the road. This was done because the relocation of services during road construction may have caused unpredictable delays.[15]

The construction of a new bridge to carry the South Maitland railway line over the new road was put out to tender in 2007. However, despite the tender closing date being put back four times, the tender was not awarded.

It was anticipated that the $253 million pre-construction work would be completed in mid 2008 and construction of the road would commence immediately after the pre-construction was completed.[16]

Funding uncertainty

Newcastle Link Road bridge over Freeway

Prior to the 2007 Australian federal election, the then coalition government pledged to fund the construction of the road as part of the Auslink II funding plan and the then opposition pledged to match the government funding commitment. On the Sunday immediately after the election, the federal member for Hunter and member of the incoming Labor government, Joel Fitzgibbon, announced in an interview that he "was no longer convinced that it was the best option for the area and wanted a new independent assessment of the project."[17] A $1 million study, titled the "Lower Hunter Transport Needs Study" [18] was "commissioned in part to cost the bypass".[19]

As part of the 2008 federal budget, money that the previous government had intended to spend on infrastructure during the 2008–09 budget year was instead placed into a fund while a newly created authority, Infrastructure Australia carried out studies to determine which projects should be funded and which should not.

Despite making no budget allocation for the road in 2007, the Government of New South Wales described the road as "critical to regional development in the Lower Hunter".[20] In their October 2008 submission to Infrastructure Australia, the NRMA also listed the road as one of four "Regional Road Infrastructure Priorities".[21]

The road was recommended as a "top priority" on an interim list of 94 high priority projects presented to the minister, Anthony Albanese by Infrastructure Australia on 19 December 2008. A final report was due to be presented in March 2009.[22]

Construction

Camp Road Greta underpass and deviation under construction

Following the announcement of funding in the 2009 federal budget, a decision was made to separate the road into two separate projects. The 12.9-kilometre (8 mi) eastern section, from the M1 to Kurri Kurri, was put out to tender under an alliance agreement in July 2009. The private sector consortium selected to partner with the RTA to build that section included Thiess Pty Ltd, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Hyder Consulting.[23] Detailed planning began in early 2010, and construction began around June 2010.[24]

The contract for the eastern section of the Hunter Expressway was finalised at $825 million, thus allowing major construction to begin. Thiess general manager NSW/ACT Brendan Donohue said the project would be technically complex as the corridor included a number of possible mine subsidence areas. The eastern section of the Hunter Expressway will include 2,000,000 cubic metres (2,615,901 cu yd) of earthworks, three 40-metre (131 ft) high viaduct bridges covering a total of 840 metres (2,756 ft) over possible mine subsidence areas and 16 other bridges.[25] On 11 August 2010, Premier Kristina Keneally, and other MPs including Anthony Albanese, Kerry Hickey and Joel Fitzgibbon met at Buchanan for the turning of the first sod.[26]

The remaining 26.6-kilometre (17 mi) section from Kurri Kurri to Branxton was tendered in 2010 as a design and construct contract.[27] Abigroup Contractors were awarded that contract in October 2010[28]

Regional development

Several developments in the region, including the proposed new township of Huntlee and new subdivisions in Branxton, Cessnock and Maitland have been described as being "held back" pending the construction of this road, since the existing road network would be unable to accommodate the increased traffic that would be generated.[29][30]

A study completed in October 2008 identified an area of land at Buchanan, adjacent to an interchange of the proposed link as the preferred location for a regional freight hub. The report indicated that uncertainty over the construction of the road "may delay a final decision regarding the preferred location for Freight Hub".[31]

Interchanges

Hunter Expressway
Northbound exits Distance from
Pacific Mwy
(km) 		Southbound exits
End Hunter Expressway
continues as New England Highway
to Singleton and Brisbane 		39.5 Start Hunter Expressway
from New England Highway
Lower Belford
Standen Drive 		Branxton, Lower Belford
Standen Drive
BRANXTON INTERCHANGE
Branxton, Huntlee, Cessnock
New England Highway
Wine Country Drive 		35.2 BRANXTON INTERCHANGE
Branxton, Greta, Cessnock
New England Highway
Wine Country Drive
ALLANDALE INTERCHANGE
Allandale, Greta, Pokolbin
Allandale Road 		27.5 no exit
LOXFORD INTERCHANGE
Loxford
Hart Road 		16.5 no exit
South Maitland Railway
KURRI KURRI INTERCHANGE
Kurri Kurri, Cessnock
Main Road 		13.6 KURRI KURRI INTERCHANGE
Kurri Kurri, Maitland
Main Road
BUCHANAN INTERCHANGE
Kurri Kurri, East Maitland
John Renshaw Drive 		10 BUCHANAN INTERCHANGE
Hexham, Taree Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport
John Renshaw Drive
Buchanan Rest Area 8 Buchanan Rest Area
Start Hunter Expressway
from Pacific Motorway
and Newcastle Link Road 		0 NEWCASTLE INTERCHANGE
Wyong, Gosford, Sydney
Pacific Motorway
End Hunter Expressway
continues as Newcastle Link Road
to Newcastle

See also

References

  1. ^ The Hunter Expressway construction progress, NSW Roads and Maritimes Services, Retrieved on 6 June 2013.
  2. ^ The Hunter Expressway construction progress, NSW Roads and Maritimes Services, Retrieved on 6 June 2013.
  3. ^ Alpha Numeric route numbers – A new Road Numbering System, NSW Transport Roads & Maritime Services. Retrieved on 6 October 2012.
  4. ^ "2009 Federal Budget Appropriation Bills 1, 2, 3 Sharon Grierson MP" (PDF). sharongrierson.com. 25 May 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  5. ^ "The Hunter Expressway". rta.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
  6. ^ "Nation Building Program: Hunter Expressway (NSW)". Nation Building Program website. Commonwealth of Australia. 26 August 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  7. ^ "Hunter Expressway Alliance, "Project Alliance Agreement"" (PDF). Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  8. ^ McGowan, Michael (29 November 2013). "Big wet delays Hunter Expressway". The Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  9. ^ Davis, Belinda-Jane (16 January 2014). "Bypass opening next week, expressway soon". The Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  10. ^ Community Access & Opening Day, NSW Roads and Maritimes Services, Retrieved on 7 March 2014.
  11. ^ "F3 Freeway to Branxton link Design Changes to the Approved Project Environmental Assessment March 2007" (PDF). Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  12. ^ "Notices of Determination- NSW Department of Planning".[dead link‍]
  13. ^ "F3 Freeway to Branxton link Overview of the revised project Community update March 2007" (PDF). Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  14. ^ "Modification MOD 10-1-2006-i to the F3 to Branxton Highway Link Road". Notices of Determination- NSW Department of Planning. Archived from the original on 4 September 2007.
  15. ^ "f32b modification to permit staged construction" (PDF). Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  16. ^ "Pressing Ahead With The Pacific And Hume Highways". Dotars.gov.au. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  17. ^ Maitland Mercury 26 November 2007, p.1
  18. ^ "Lower Hunter Transport Needs Study web site".[dead link‍]
  19. ^ Patrick May (10 December 2008). "'F3 link part of wish list' – Local News – News – General". Maitland Mercury. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  20. ^ Strachan, Julieanne (24 October 2008). "F3 link races up Rees wish-list – Local News – News – General – Newcastle Herald". The Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  21. ^ "Nrma Motoring & Services" (PDF). Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  22. ^ Strachan, Julieanne (20 December 2008). "F3 link to Branxton top priority on list – Local News – News – General – Newcastle Herald". The Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  23. ^ "Hunter Expressway Moving Forward". Minister.infrastructure.gov.au. 17 November 2009. Archived from the original on 27 November 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  24. ^ "Job details". Careers.thiess.com.au. 15 January 2010. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  25. ^ "Thiess' Hunter Expressway contract finalised at $825 million" (PDF). Thiess Pty Ltd. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2010.[dead link‍]
  26. ^ Harris, Michelle (12 August 2010). "First sod dug for Hunter Expressway – Local News – News – General – Newcastle Herald". The Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  27. ^ "Hunter Expressway on the move – Local News – News – General – The Advertiser". Cessnockadvertiser.com.au. 5 August 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2010.[dead link‍]
  28. ^ "Work to begin on Hunter Expressway". www.theherald.com.au. 29 October 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  29. ^ "Freeway link support – Local News – News – General – Newcastle Herald". The Newcastle Herald. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  30. ^ "Transport and new towns – Opinion – Editorial – General – Newcastle Herald". The Newcastle Herald. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  31. ^ "Freight Hub Hunter Part 1 – Executive Summary Report". Freight Hub Hunter. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
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