A long wait for ground to be broken on Hereford Street upgrade

However, they'll likely still have to wait until late 2024, if not sometime in 2025, to see construction start.

Councillor Warren Aubin, a long-time member of Bathurst Regional Council's traffic committee, has wanted to see an upgrade to Hereford Street for years.

He said, at this stage, council is still in the process of completing preliminary studies, reports, and having detailed plans for the project drawn up.

The need to do studies and compile reports for other agencies is one of the factors preventing council from being able to start construction anytime soon.

"Everything's coming along," Cr Aubin said.

"I know the major study has been done on the whole precinct from Durham Street right down. It hasn't been reported to us, but I dare say early in the new year we'll see those.

"It's a work in progress, but not a really fast one in that location obviously because it's a flood-prone area and there's just a lot of red tape to get through."

READ MORE: Preliminary design completed for upgrade to Hereford Street

The other concern is funding.

Council engaged WSP in to undertake concept planning and feasibility assessments for the Hereford Street corridor.

The actions proposed by WSP are estimated to cost around $25 million, including approximately $5 million for the upgrade of the Hereford-Gilmour intersection.

This is money that council, at this time, simply does not have.

READ MORE: Councillors concerned about the city's multi-million dollar backlog

And Cr Aubin said it's possible the project could cost more than that as the years wear on.

"We've got to get funding for it, which is going to be huge," he said.

"They were predicting sort of $20 million, $30 million, but who knows? With the price of construction going up, and up, and up, who knows what it's going to end up at."

Cr Aubin said council is having ongoing discussions with higher levels of government to see if they would be willing to contribute funding towards the project.

"Those conversations have already started and they'll be ongoing for sure," he said.

Other councillors in the past have also pointed to funding from the state or federal government to carry out the upgrade, but Bathurst council could struggle to get any.

Member for Bathurst Paul Toole has previously said he would expect council to commit "serious dollars" of its own before the NSW government offered up a grant.

While funding remains up in the air, Cr Aubin said he'll be keeping a close eye on the Hereford Street project, hoping to progress it as much a possible in 2023 to ensure construction can start in two or so years' time.

"It's an ongoing project and one that I'll be happy when I see it get started," he said.

"It's definitely one that I'm all for getting done."

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