Bathurst Regional Council last week resolved to endorse the upgrading of the Hereford Street road corridor as a priority, along with endorsing points raised in the preliminary concept.

READ MORE: Preliminary design completed for upgrade to Hereford Street

During discussion of the report at the ordinary meeting, councillor Alex Christian again raised the issue of the roundabout proposed to be built near the sporting fields.

The roundabout was budgeted for prior to council appointing consultants WSP to develop the concept design.

WSP agrees that a roundabout is the preferred option.

However, Cr Christian believes it will exacerbate the congestion already seen on Hereford Street.

"I'm still a little concerned about the roundabout situation. I've been bringing this up each and every time and it seems like the horse has bolted on that," he said.

"I may be mistaken, but I don't actually recall council making a decision on that particular amendment on Hereford Street, because one would have thought creating four lanes of traffic, a beautiful new big bridge, which is also four lanes and raised, the sole purpose of that is to get people in and out as quickly as possible.

"My fear is if you put a big roundabout in the middle of it, it's going to actually slow traffic."

The roundabout was part of a $6.2 million plan for the Hereford Street sporting complex, announced in October, 2018.

A $600,000 allocation for the roundabout was included in the 2019-2020 budget.

Director of Engineering Services, Darren Sturgiss, reaffirmed last week that the roundabout is still considered the best option.

Tenders for the roundabout and Hereford Street car park are set to be called "shortly".

It has been said previously that the roundabout would be constructed prior to the widening of Hereford Street.

Widening Hereford Street would come at a cost of at least $25 million.

The preliminary design includes signalisation of the Hereford and Gilmour Street intersection and associated widening of Gilmour Street; the construction of a new four-lane bridge; and the duplication of Hereford Street to two lanes in each direction between Gilmour and Stanley streets.

For traffic to flow smoothly, there would also need to be an alteration to the traffic signals at Durham and George Streets, signalisation of the intersections at George and Stanley streets and George and Elizabeth streets, and associated road widening of George Street to two lanes in each direction between Stanley Street and Durham Street.

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