After little to no update for almost two years, Transport for NSW has chosen the preferred corridor for the Moruya bypass as the planning phase for the project concludes.
A Transport spokesperson said the preferred ‘Orange’ corridor would allow for a two-lane, nine-kilometre bypass of Moruya to the east of the existing Princes Highway from north of Malabar Drive to south of Mountain View Road.
The State Government has estimated the Moruya Bypass would cost more than $1.7 billion.
Former NSW Transport Minister and Bega MP, now federal candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance, acknowledged labour and material costs have risen a lot since the Covid-19 outbreak but he labelled the $1.7b price tag as “crazy”.
“Gladys Berejiklian and I announced this project back in 2019 for a price tag of $306 million,” Constance said.
“$1.7 billion is absurd. The Regional Eurobodalla Hopspital is going to cost $330 million, so you could build five level 4 regional hospitals, one in Durras, Batemans Bay, Mogo, Broulee and one at Batehaven for this price tag, I think they need to go back to the drawing board,” Constance said.
“If you consider Albion Park Bypass, which I built as Roads Minister was $630 million, the (Batemans) Bay Bridge $274 million, even the North Connex tunnel in Sydney, which is Australia’s largest Road tunnel was $3 billion. I just think this is absolutely crazy and I don’t know how anybody with credibility could release this report and it’s left local residents scratching their heads.”
Neither Labor or the Coalition has committed any funding for the completion of the Moruya Bypass project at this point in time. Though the NSW Government provided funding for the initial planning phase which has been completed.
“During the option assessment process, Transport for NSW considered community and stakeholder feedback and made refinements to the Orange corridor,” the Transport spokesperson said.
“These refinements resulted in the corridor moving slightly to help reduce impacts to coastal wetlands, properties and local amenity, which the community had flagged as a priority during feedback.
“While the Purple option was initially popular with many in the community, it was found it would result in potential impacts to Aboriginal heritage sites and higher noise and visual impacts to community facilities including TAFE NSW Moruya and the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital.
“Additionally, the Purple option would have a major impact on highly valued community activities in Moruya with an elevated bridge structure required above Riverside Park.
“Refining the Orange option has enabled us to better meet the long-term project objectives of delivering a safer, more efficient and resilient highway for locals and visitors.”
“Funding for the finalisation of the concept design, environmental assessment process and construction will now need to be sought for this project.
“The completion of the early planning phase and selection of the preferred corridor allows the project to progress to development and construction stages when future funding is available.”
Transport for NSW thanked the Eurobodalla community for its input and said it would provide updates on further planning and future development of the proposed Moruya bypass when available with no timeframe provided.
Mr Constance said money could be saved by rolling the project out in stages.
“Build it as single lanes with future proofing. We’ve seen bridges built with two lanes and open as four lanes before and maybe that’s what the Government needs to consider here,” Constance said.
“The Moruya Bypass and Eurobodalla Regional Hospital needed to be built concurrently, and I feel that the Batemans Bay Emergency Department needs to remain open permanently now,” he continued.
“The traffic build up around Moruya is probably one of the worst on the Princes Highway and it has to be fixed.”
When asked if Mr Constance would commit any federal funding to the project, if he was succesful at the next federal election he replied with:
“Well if the Labor party are going to put up a sensible proposal then you would but nobody in their right mind is going to sign off on a $1.7b minimum price tag for this road it’s absurd.”
More information about the proposed Moruya bypass can be found HERE.
Images: Transport for NSW, Andrew Constance, ARN Bega Bay
