A NEW bridge has opened to traffic as part of a $232 million duplication of the Great Western Highway at Little Hartley.
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Work on the upgrade to a 2.4-kilometre section of the highway started in early 2023, was paused briefly a couple of months later after the Minns state government was elected and is expected to be completed by late 2025.
The completion of the bridge, which will carry motorists on Coxs River Road over the Great Western Highway once the highway has been realigned and moved south, is the most substantial sign of progress on the project so far.
The NSW and federal governments say the 70-metre-long bridge has been built using locally sourced materials, including concrete from Lithgow and quarry materials from Oberon.
The two-span bridge - which is visible from the current Great Western Highway through Little Hartley - is 15 metres wide and has a shared path for pedestrians and cyclists.
As well as the concrete and gravel, 300 tonnes of steel was used to build the road bridge, which rests on 14 precast Super T girders, which are each 34 metres long and weigh 60 tonnes, according to the NSW and federal governments.
It is one of a number of bridges coming to life in the wider region as part of infrastructure projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars in total, including a new crossing of the Macquarie River at Dubbo, a new crossing of Mandagery Creek at Manildra and two new bridges at Parkes while that city gets a Newell Highway bypass.
Build a bridge (and get over it)
- New Dubbo Bridge: Being built over the Macquarie River north of the city's CBD. Worth $220 million. Work began in early 2023.
- Mandagery Creek Bridge replacement: Worth $12 million. Work began in September 2022.
- New bridges at Parkes as part of Newell Highway bypass: One will be over two rail lines and Hartigan Avenue and one will be over the bypass itself. First sod on the $187 million bypass was turned in November 2021.
In terms of the Great Western Highway upgrade at Little Hartley, the state and federal governments say 530 jobs are being supported by the project.
They say more than 30 per cent of the entire workforce on the upgrade since work started in March 2023 are residents from Bathurst, Lithgow and Blue Mountains local government areas and more than 30 local businesses have been engaged.
Politicians' say
NSW Regional Transport and Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison, one of the politicians who cut the ribbon on the new bridge, described its completion as "just the start of improvements to the Great Western Highway at Little Hartley".
"The new bridge is vital for ensuring the preservation of local heritage buildings whilst improving safety and reducing congestion for local, tourist and freight traffic through the valley," she said.
Federal Regional Development Minister Kristy McBain, who was also at the ribbon-cutting, said the upgrade will "make it easier for locals and tourists to get around, and keep our freight vehicles moving efficiently".
"That's exactly what's happening with this new bridge now open. It will improve road safety and unlock new economic opportunities in the Central West of NSW - a fast-growing part of the state," she said.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King called the bridge a "remarkable piece of transport infrastructure" and said it was a "triumph of local materials and labour".
"Having the newly constructed bridge open to traffic means motorists can start to experience the benefits of our major upgrade through this section of the Great Western Highway, with more positives to come once the whole project is complete," she said.
"Our commitment to this project is demonstrated by the recent Federal Budget commitment of $116 million, as part of providing over $3.1 billion to NSW over the next 10 years for new and existing projects."
Down the highway
FURTHER down the road, the $174m duplication of 1.2 kilometres of the Great Western Highway through Medlow Bath is continuing.
Like the Little Hartley project, the work at Medlow Bath is expected to be completed in 2025, according to the NSW Government.
The NSW and federal Labor governments have faced criticism for cancelling or pausing much of the former NSW Coalition's ambitious plans for a duplication of the highway from Lithgow to Katoomba.
NSW Regional Transport and Roads Minister Ms Aitchison says Labor wants to look at the Great Western Highway corridor in its entirety to determine how the road can be improved.
Troubled road
THE upgrades to the Great Western Highway at Little Hartley and Medlow Bath come amid scrutiny of the road's safety and reliability.
The Western Advocate reported in January that there had been 14 incidents on a stretch of the highway 15 kilometres either side of Lithgow in only a month, according to Live Traffic data.
Those incidents in December on the stretch of the highway from Mount Lambie to the base of Mount Victoria included breakdowns, an oil spill, crashes and a building fire.
The Advocate reported in February that the highway had been closed in both directions 40 times over the past five years in the stretch between Penrith and Lithgow.
