WITH the end of the year in sight, the Western Advocate will be looking back on some of the best-read stories of each month of 2023 - from wild weather and road closures to the opening of new businesses or development proposals for others.
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It was another big year in news for our growing, constantly changing city and the Western Advocate was there to report on every aspect.
These were some of the stories that got readers' attention in January.
THE new Kwik-E-Mart that had opened in William Street had made a great start to business, according to owner Ali Cheema.
"We've already run out of some stock, but we will be getting more in," he said.
"Everyone walks in and just says 'wow, you've got this, wow, you've got that, I don't have to go to Sydney anymore; I'll bring back my mum, I'll bring back my dad, my kids are going to love this'."
The store had opened next door to The Jewel of Bathurst, also owned by the Cheema family, who were hoping to create a mutually beneficial relationship with other William Street businesses.
Mr Cheema made particular mention of the expansive range of American confectionery.
FORMER Bathurst Public and Bathurst High student Kieran Lindsay was excited to talk about his cutting-edge creation.
The 24-year-old had made leaps and bounds in the world of tech during his seven years of studying at the University of Technology Sydney by creating a "revolutionary" artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform.
Born out of a desire to combine his two life goals - to be an academic and build a start-up - Mr Lindsay, after eight months of "a lot of work" outside his full time job as a business consultant, had created AcademicID, a platform where academics and students could find research in one click.
"With the world's most advanced search engine for finding experts by actual expertise, we're revolutionising the way industry finds and connects with academic experts," he said.
"The main tool is our AI research assistant. For each request, Minerva - our assistant - does a search of over 200 million academic papers and returns them to the user, who can verify the information. It speeds up the process immensely.
"There's also tools for academics to track how their careers are going, and similarly, there are tools for those outside of academia, such as journalists who might be looking for an expert opinion."
Mr Lindsay is a former Bathurst High captain who said he "would like to think my younger self is somewhat happy that I've remained ambitious and achieved what I've achieved".
A DEVELOPMENT application had been lodged for a new car dealership on a vacant block of land on the highway at Kelso alongside Clancy Motors.
Bathurst Regional Council had received the $3.8 million plans for a vehicles sales and hire premises at 180 Sydney Road.
According to the statement of environmental effects (SoEE), prepared by Anthony Daintith Town Planning on behalf of the applicant, the premises would include a new car franchise and a 4WD sales store.
The building plans indicated a car showroom, capable of displaying five vehicles, would be positioned at the front western corner of the building, with an Ironman 4x4 showroom to be located next to it on the eastern side of the building.
There would also be 45 car spaces provided on the site.
"There will be additional traffic generated via the creation of the proposed development, but this can be accommodated by the road system without upgrading," Mr Daintith said in the SoEE.
TRAFFIC was backed up for six kilometres or so after a two-truck, one-car collision before noon on Friday, January 27 on the Great Western Highway at Linden in the Blue Mountains.
Emergency Services, Transport for NSW and heavy vehicle tow trucks were reported to be on the scene and Live Traffic NSW was saying eastbound vehicles were passing slowly through the crash site using the shoulder.
Those planning on travelling towards Sydney were being cautioned to expect delays as traffic was backed up to Hazelbrook.
Some buses were being delayed up to 80 minutes and people were asked to consider using Blue Mountains Line trains instead.
A NSW Ambulance Media spokesperson said no-one was taken to hospital following the incident.
The January 27 crash was to be just one of a number of problems on the Great Western Highway during the year.
On the same subject - the troubled Great Western Highway - the release of an environmental impact statement (EIS) gave a fascinating insight into the mechanics of proposed tunnels from Little Hartley to Blackheath.
The documents, put on public exhibition by the NSW Government, said two boring machines would set off from Little Hartley to dig the twin Great Western Highway tunnels and the project would support a peak construction workforce of up to 1100 full-time jobs.
Work would start in 2024 and traffic would be navigating its way underneath Mount Victoria and Blackheath by 2030, according to the EIS.
Tunnel boring machines similar to those being used on the Sydney Metro rail project had been identified "as the preferred tunnelling methodology for the mainline tunnels as they can excavate at a faster rate than roadheaders and are able to install precast structural, waterproof tunnel lining progressively as they tunnel".
The tunnels - which even at the time of the release of the EIS were short of Commonwealth money - were destined to be abandoned as a project before the year was out.
