Up to 2,000 trucks will be taken off local streets in Kempsey and Frederickton in NSW once bypass is complete
June 18, 2012
Up to 2,000 trucks will be taken off local streets in Kempsey and Frederickton in NSW once the Kempsey Bypass is complete.
The bypass is due to be completed a year ahead of schedule, opening before next year’s Easter holidays.
It will be a 14.5km four-lane divided highway to the east of Kempsey and will involve approximately 1.4 million cubic metres of earthworks.
Federal Senator Matt Thistlethwaite says the milestone in the delivery of the bypass will allow the project team to complete their work on the northern side of the Macleay River.
“Once completed, the new bypass will take up to 2,000 trucks a day off the local streets of Kempsey and Frederickton and deliver faster, safer and smoother driving conditions for the hundreds of thousands of motorists who use this stretch of highway each year,” Thistlethwaite says.
“At 3.2kmin length, the new bridge being erected over the Macleay River and floodplain will be Australia’s longest.”
The project will create 360 direct and 1,100 indirect jobs each year, he adds.
NSW Member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams says highway traffic in both directions will be diverted via the Frederickton interchange, which was opened last Saturday, before reconnecting with the existing highway.
“The interchange will allow for completion of the Fredericton levee, which will improve flood immunity for the local community to a one in 100-year flood level,” Williams says.
