B-double drivers will no longer be forced to unhitch their trailers outside the NSW town of Bega once bypass opens
By Brad Gardner | June 1, 2012
B-double drivers will no longer be forced to unhitch their trailers outside the NSW town of Bega once a $60 million bypass is built by mid-2014.
Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Dr Mike Kelly has described the federally-funded project as a win for trucking operators and the local community, which currently has to deal with trucks travelling along Bega’s main road.
Construction of the two-lane 3.5km bypass on the Princes Highway began this month and it is expected to take two years to complete.
“We have lots of goods that we need to move such as milk goods from Bega Cheese, timber goods, sheep and beef meat and logs,” the Eden-Monaro MP says.
“That whole array of measures requires the ability of the B-doubles to move smoothly through the region. With the Bega Bypass we will no longer have the requirement of those B-doubles to uncouple and recouple.”
Kelly says the current practice of unhitching trailers outside of town adds “enormous costs” to operators and causes traffic delays.
“Also we will be taking 500 truck movements a week out of that central street in Bega, Carp Street, which will improve safety and the air quality in the town,” he says.
“Right now the Princes Highway does a dogleg through the town of Bega and it is incredibly dangerous as the larger trucks come through the town.”
The NSW Roads and Maritime Services says the bypass will run between the south side of the Bega River Bridge and Finucane Lane.
It says two new bridges will built across the bypass, with the project also constructing an underpass and two new major access points to link the town and the new stretch of road.
