The industry association for livestock and rural carters in Australia says it applauds the Federal Government’s latest commitment for the beleaguered and blocked Great Western Highway on the Western flank of the NSW Blue Mountains.
The Livestock, Bulk and Rural Carriers Association, or LBRCA, said that it welcomed the Commonwealth’s newly announced funding commitment to add an extra climbing lane on the road which contractors are currently scrambling to repair, following the discovery of cracks in the 194 year old stone bridge on the main arterial highway from Sydney to the NSW western districts.
The LBRCA said the newly announced investment by the Albanese Government comes after what it describes as its ‘sustained advocacy’ calling on governments to recognise the critical freight role the route plays
Wade Lewis , the LBRCA president said the announcement by the government was a welcome investment in a route which has a significance well beyond the Blue Mountains and New South Wales.
“LBRCA has been consistently making the case that the Great Western Highway cannot be treated as a local road problem, because this is a freight artery of national significance and today’s announcement from the government recognises that reality,” Lewis said.
“Rural carriers were among those directly experiencing the cost and disruption caused by the Victoria Pass closure, and we have been pressing for greater urgency, greater investment and a solution that delivers a stronger freight route for the long term,” he said.
The LBRCA said that the Great Western Highway provides a critical east-west connection, supporting the movement of agricultural goods, food, aggregate and other essential freight, adding that the disruption to such a significant corridor quickly has become a national supply chain issue.
“When this highway is constrained, freight does not disappear and rural carriers need to keep goods moving and communities stocked,” Lewis said.
“Trucks are forced onto longer or less efficient routes, which means higher costs especially for fuel and time pressures, and puts strain on the rest of the road network,” he added.
“That ultimately affects farmers, transport operators, regional businesses and consumers, and that is why LBRCA has been so persistent in arguing that
governments need to look at this corridor and invest more,” Lewis added.
The LBRCA said the additional eastbound climbing lane was also an important productivity and safety improvement, particularly on a corridor where heavy vehicles operate alongside significant passenger traffic.
“The LBRCA will continue to advocate for the infrastructure our members and rural carriers need, because reliable freight routes are not optional infrastructure for regional Australia, because they are what connect producers to markets and regional economies to the rest of the country,” Lewis said.
The LBRCA also said the announcement should also serve as a broader reminder that governments must invest proactively in nationally significant freight corridors rather than waiting until failures or closures expose vulnerabilities in the network.
As a part of the funding announcement the Australian and New South Wales Governments will each contribute $100 million to reconstruct the Great Western Highway and deliver the additional eastbound climbing lane.
The truth is that even the new road is at best a band aid step, and hides the real and urgent need for a proper motorway up and down the western side of the Blue Mountains. An earlier proposed two way multi lane motorway tunnel from Medlow Bath to Hartley on the valley floor near Lithgow was cancelled in 2023.
The tunnel project that would have bypassed the steep and treacherous Victoria Pass and the ancient convict built bridges on the old road on the western side of the Blue Mountains was officially scrapped in November 2023 when the Albanese government pulled its funding.
An independent federal infrastructure review supposedly found that sections of the proposed 40-kilometre upgrade lacked a “national strategic rationale and failed to meet investment priorities”. Some on that independent review must surely be rueing that decision.
The federal infrastructure minister, Catherine King pulled about $2 billion in funding, while the state government had previously paused or questioned the affordability of the massive tunneling works under the state budget.
The NSW Minns Labor Government has never supported the project which was championed be the former NSW Coalition government’ which included a major upgrade from Katoomba to the entry to the 11-kilometre tunnel between Blackheath and Little Hartley.
State member for Bathurst and former deputy premier in the Coalition government, Paul Toole, championed the upgrades when he was in government, and described the decision to abandon the project as short-sighted and a “kick in the guts” for regional NSW.
“This was a project that had seen construction already under way, and we are now building a road that goes to nowhere that’s not going to link up or be part of major highway upgrades that are needed, we needed the entire project to be done.
“We have seen major upgrades to the Pacific Highway, there are upgrades going on to the Princes Highway and this is the last road out of Sydney within 50 kilometres that’s not dual carriageway.” Toole said at the time
Approximately 18,000 tonnes of freight and 12,000 cars a day pass through Victoria Pass each day travelling between the Central West and Sydney, and even before the failures of the convict built bridge some trucks could not travel through the Blue Mountains because of restrictions at the Pass.
