Shadow Minister for the Central Coast Scott Farlow and Member for Terrigal Adam Crouch are calling on the Minns Government to provide answers about the upgrade of the Central Coast Hwy and Tumbi Rd intersection following three months of no works on the upgrade.
Crouch said the intersection upgrade was vitally important to the wider upgrade of the Central Coast Hwy between Wamberal and Bateau Bay and there was significant community concern about the project.
“It has now been three months since the completion of early works for the upgrade of the intersection which started in February 2023 and so far, there’s been no progress since for this major bottleneck,” he said.
“To progress the upgrade, a Review of Environmental Factors was supposed to be displayed to the community in mid to late 2023 – this still has not happened and we now know this because the road has been subject to an infrastructure review by the Minns Labor Government.”
Crouch said he would pursue the matter in Parliament and write to the Minister for Regional Roads and Transport Jenny Aitchison to get an update on the project.
Shadow Minister for the Central Coast Scott Farlow said the delay was another example of the Minns Labor Government’s lack of focus on the Central Coast.
“The Minns Labor Government is abandoning the delivery of better infrastructure on the Central Coast to support the additional planned population growth over the coming years,” Farlow said.
“Central Coast Labor MPs are missing in action when their government is cutting funding for Tumbi Rd, infrastructure and early learning.
“With $1.65B lost in GST payments from Anthony Albanese and the Premier and the Treasurer failing to pick up the phone to Canberra, the funding to the Central Coast will only get worse.”
A spokesperson for Minister for the Central Coast David Harris said the NSW Government, in partnership with the Federal Government, was committed to delivering an upgrade to the Tumbi Road intersection and Transport for NSW was working with the Federal Government on the release of the federal funds to continue the project.
The total cost of the intersection upgrade is $64M and it will take around two years to complete.
Almost $8M was confirmed in the first NSW Labor Government budget to finalise planning and start pre-construction activities and early works were completed in November last year.
Timing of the next stage is contingent on the release of the federal funds while tendering for the main work is expected in the middle of this year.
A Transport for NSW spokesperson said early planning to upgrade the Central Coast Hwy between Wamberal and Bateau Bay had been completed.
Community consultation for the intersection project has been carried out and the Review of Environmental Factors was on display for feedback in October 2021, with the submissions report addressing matters raised by the community published online in June 2022.
The spokesperson said as part of the project, the upgrade of the most congested intersection at the Tumbi Rd intersection has been prioritised and fast tracked.
Early works included vegetation clearing, surveying, minor earthworks, geotechnical testing, installation of utilities pits, conduits and cables and demolition of Transport-owned property.
The spokesperson said Transport for NSW will provide an update with further details on timing in mid-2024 and will keep the community updated as work progresses.