Newcastle, Muswellbrook and Singleton in line for boosted Live Traffic NSW service

Maitland was one of 20 original councils that trialed the new technology, where local governments can upload information quickly about what roads are open and closed, what diversions are in place and what problems are happening.

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway, Maitland Mayor Philip Penfold and member for Upper Hunter Dave Layzell met in Lorn on Monday morning to discuss the Hunter being better connected through the app.

Newcastle, Muswellbrook and Singleton council areas will be added to the live feed in February.

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Member for Upper Hunter Dave Layzell said he wants to see all of NSW added to the Transport NSW Live Feed.

"We want to see the whole state on this amazing bit of technology that allows local communities to understand all problems with the road, where they can then look on their own apps whether its Google Maps or any other mapping software they have," he said.

"We want to see them get from their home to their work place, to the places where they play as fast as possible and it's all about doing it in the safest manner possible."

During January, 13 additional councils were added to the app throughout the state and 20 more will be included by the end of February.

The information in the Transport for NSW database will also feed into third party apps like Google Maps, Waze and Tom Tom.

It will be input by trained staff in real time, keeping motorists informed as quickly as possible.

"When there's an actual problem on the road, and we know when we get flood how challenging it is to get around our road network, it can change instantaneously," Mr Layzell said.

"What we need to be able to do it give people real time information so they can get around the districts as soon as possible in the easiest way and safest way they can."

Mr Layzell said during the 2022 floods, information took a while to get onto the traffic app - an issue that the live feed will overcome.

Maitland Mayor Philip Penfold said council is very thankful to the state government that Maitland was an early pilot for the system.

"The opportunity for council itself to upload this information on Live Traffic is fantastic," he said.

"I was just talking to our engineers and they said it's going to be a game changer when it comes to emergencies.

"We need to make sure the community has confidence that the information that's there is up to date, and valid and correct."

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway said it's important to have the Hunter connected.

"Newcastle is going to be onboarded in February, as well as Muswellbrook and Singleton," he said.

"When we already have Maitland on the system, we're starting to better connect the entire Hunter, the road network and we're going to give locals as well as tourists, as well as visitors the ability to go to a one-stop-shop, an app that will have the entire Hunter road network covered.

"This is all about providing better services for motorists."

Mr Farraway said the way the app works is councils will input their localised data into the transport management centre's platform called One Road.

It then feeds into the Live Traffic app, the traffic management centre and third party websites like Tom Tom, Waze and Google Maps.

"I think people will start to see the Live Traffic app as a daily tool that they will use in their lives," he said.