GREENING Bathurst is working with the NSW Government to ensure the environment is considered during the expansion of the Great Western Highway at Raglan.
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Work is under way on the duplication of the highway across a 3.6-kilometre section between Kelso and Raglan - a continuation of the expansion completed in Kelso in 2017.
Environmental group Greening Bathurst has been previously consulted to help develop a landscape plan for the road corridor and the group has been engaged again for the new project.
Greening Bathurst member Dr David Goldney said the group had some concerns about the project and hopes to be able to address them through the landscape plan.
"Our major concerns for Greening Bathurst was to make sure there was a treescape to mark the edge between the farmland and the road, in a similar way that we helped the main road to have trees through the section that's been completed in the last few years," he said.
"We managed to get hundreds of trees put in that section and I think we're still debating exactly what sort of trees will be on the edge of the road; they won't be necessarily everywhere, but they'll certainly be a landscape feature that will be welcoming for people that come into this area."
Although the landscape plan hasn't been finalised, Dr Goldney expects it will include a mix of native and exotics plantings.
"The main roads have a pretty good track record along the Great Western Highway of putting in both native and exotic trees, depending on where they are," he said, noting that exotic trees tend to do well in Bathurst.
The group is pleased the NSW Government is working with members again to ensure environmental concerns are addressed.
"We try to be positive and very adaptable. We're not trying to get everything we want, just enough to indicate that there are environmental concerns that can be addressed through tree planting," Dr Goldney said.
The $45 million expansion of the highway at Raglan is expected to be finished in 2023.
