The Central West and Orana Regional Plan, released by the NSW Government earlier this month, included the proposed bypass in a list of long-term planning projects for the region.

The plan’s aim is to provide a 20-year blueprint for the future of an area of NSW stretching from Lithgow to the Western Plains, so the inclusion of a Bathurst bypass is recognition that the project could benefit more than just our city.

But just how viable is such an idea?

The proposal was certainly well received by readers of the Western Advocate after it was revealed in Saturdays paper.

Most of the discussion on our Facebook page supported the idea of a bypass to get heavy vehicles, in particular, of streets through the local CBD and to help ease traffic congestion.

But the $100 million upgrade of the Great Western Highway at Kelso, completed earlier this year, must surely raise real doubts over the government's intentions to proceed with a Bathurst bypass.

It's hard to imagine that sort of money would have been spent on the Great Western Highway – regardless of the immediate need for the work – if the long-term plan was to take much of the traffic of the road anyway.

The other sticking point for Bathurst is the fact that a bypass around the city has never been seen as being as crucial as it was in Orange where the highway through town ran straight down the main street.

In that case, it was Orange City Council that funded the northern bypass around the city, though it has bspent much of the past five years now trying to hand over responsibility for maintaining that road to the government.

Having said all that, no-one in Bathurst would object to a bypass and fewer trucks on city streets would be welcomed by us all.

A bypass would also shave travel times between Sydney and cities further west of Bathurst and time is money when it comes to transporting freight.

But it's hard to imagine such a project would be given priority when weighed against other funding concerns in the western region.

So while we welcome its inclusion on the regional plan we will not hold our breath waiting for a bypass route to be selected and for work to begin. If we set our expectations low, we make it much easier for the government to surpass them.