Great Western Highway Upgrades

In the lead up to the 2019 state election, the NSW Liberals and Nationals committed to the full duplication of the Great Western Highway between Katoomba and Lithgow including building a tunnel under the village of Blackheath to combat weekend congestion.

The Minns Labor governments position on this project is to ensure fiscal and budgetary responsibility. The previous coalition government in New South Wales only allocated $1.1 billion in the budget of the estimated $11 billion proposed and left the remaining $10 billion completely unfunded

In late May 2022 Infrastructure NSW recommended putting the Blackheath/Mt. Victoria tunnel project on the backburner due to cost blowouts which the Minns Labor government has done in accordance with this recommendation and the current freeze of Infrastructure spending during the ongoing federal infrastructure review.

The ambiguity we experienced under the coalition government regarding the future of this project has led to significant uncertainty and pain in our community. With this the Minns Labor government is investing in funding packages to fund road upgrades here in the blue mountains.

The ongoing work in the Blue Mountains such as the Medlow Bath duplication, which is creating a new U-turn Bay on Bellevue Crescent, a new pedestrian bridge from the train station and the duplication of the highway in Medlow Bath. This is currently causing large disruptions to the Medlow Bath community but I will continue to advocate for and engage with the Medlow Bath community in recognising the challenges they face relating to this project.

The Minns Labor government in seeking to prioritise our community
whilst also effectively managing the $50 billion blackhole left by the former coalition
government while seeking to gain further certainty for the Blue Mountains
community.

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