It will be delivered in the second half of this year, will have no impact on surrounding properties or Maitland Park, and is expected to cut delays to westbound traffic by 80 per cent during peak hour.
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Sounds too good to be true but that's the word from the State Government as it looks to relieve Maitland's greatest trouble spot on the roads - the railway station roundabout.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Catherine Cusack sent out a press release on Friday saying that there had been extensive public feedback on the proposed improvements to the New England Highway, Church Street and Cessnock Road bottleneck.
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Ms Cusack said Transport for NSW had received 130 submissions from the community in response to the plan that went on display late last year and that they were "carefully considered in the solution design".
"The feedback received covered a range of issues relating to the design of the proposal and impacts to the local road network," Ms Cusack said.
"The report helps to explain the planning and investigations involved, and how a number of options were considered to determine an effective traffic management solution."
This will be the second phase of works on the trouble spot.
Stage 2 works include:
- Installing traffic lights on the Church Street approach to the roundabout to manage traffic flow during busy times
- Modifying the roundabout to provide two through lanes from Church Street to Cessnock Road. This extra through lane would increase the capacity of the roundabout by allowing more vehicles to move through the roundabout
- Providing two right turn lanes into Cessnock Road for eastbound traffic on the New England Highway
- Building a new cycle path to separate eastbound cyclists from the roundabout.
Traffic modelling carried out shows that the changes are expected to reduce delay times for westbound motorists by about 80 per cent during afternoon peak hours.
The lane configuration changes at the roundabout will also increase the capacity of the roundabout and allow more motorists to travel through the roundabout during each traffic light phase.
Stage 1 work was completed in October 2019 and involved the installation of traffic lights on the eastbound approach to the roundabout. The government says this work has reduced westbound queues by about 150 metres, in line with their traffic modelling. Work to widen Cessnock Road is due to be completed by the end of the year.
"The improvements will provide travel time benefits for road users sooner, while traffic modelling shows the upgraded roundabout will continue to operate effectively into the future," Ms Cusack said.
Transport for NSW will continue to monitor traffic volumes and land use in the Maitland area.
