A greater connection between Sydney and the Central West is "incredibly vital" to ensure the continued growth and evolution of regional NSW west of the Blue Mountains.
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That's the view of Business NSW's western regional director Vicki Seccombe, and she says improved road and rail services should go hand-in-hand when upgrading our main link over the mountains is considered.
Through our The Great Divide campaign, aimed at shining a light on the failures of our region's main highway linking Sydney and the Central West, it has been revealed the Great Western Highway has been closed in both directions 40 times in the last five years.
On a number of those occasions, the railway has also been impacted, as has the only other viable alternate route, the Bells Line of Road.
While one of the highway's real pinch points, Blackheath has had a constant live traffic alert since March 20, 2024 indicating "heavy traffic conditions" will impact the area.
The warning says to "plan your journey" and "allow extra travel time".
The Great Divide
More coverage:
- A 200-year-old bridge or multi-billion dollar tunnel. Can we just get two lanes?
- Our Say: why our major route over mountains is a headache, not a highway
- Our main road is shut ... now it's open: come play highway hokey pokey
And Ms Seccombe says that lack of reliability is proving a major disappointment for businesses in Orange and abroad.
"It's incredibly frustrating," she said.
"... for the business community and the impacts; which include loss of revenue or increased costs, increased time, and loss of product that can't get to Sydney or the ports."
She claims there have been "businesses who have closed due to the rail and road closures" and improving connectivity across the mountains was crucial.
"Connectivity is incredibly vital for our Western NSW business community and Business NSW has been calling for improved road and rail corridors over the Great Dividing Range for some time," Ms Seccombe said.
"Not only have we seen closures on the Great Western Highway, we have had consistent rail closures as well over the past couple of years."
Federal minister infrastructure, transport and regional development, Catherine King axed billions of dollars in funding for the upgraded Great Western Highway in late 2023.
At the time, the coalition was fuming. Nationals leader David Littleproud dubbed the Albanese Labor government city-centric and said taking the axe to the Great Western Highway project, among others across regional NSW, was a "stitch up on regional, rural and remote Australia".
Ms Seccombe backed calls to have the funding reinvested into the Great Western Highway.
"We need to see a significant step up in transport connectivity, both road and rail," she said.
"A faster, safer route would see a lift in the economic capacity of Western NSW, lower freight and transport costs, enable better freight connections to ensure fresh produce can be flown out of the new Western Sydney airport, improve our visitor economy and increase our attractiveness for Sydney-siders who may be considering relocating to the region."
Long story short
Great Western Highway upgrades
- 1960s: Springwood bypass.
- 1980s: Glenbrook, Blaxland, Valley Heights, Katoomba.
- 1990s: Lapstone Hill, Warrimoo, Linden Bends, Woodford Bends.
- 2000s: Faulconbridge, Linden, Wentworth Falls West, Leura.
- 2010: Lawson town centre.
- 2014: Woodford to Hazelbrook.
- 2015: Bullaburra.