Newell Highway Corridor Strategy

Reviewed

Project overview

The Newell Highway Corridor Strategy will provide freight, road users and local communities with a safer, more reliable and accessible road.

Key benefits

  • Maintains a vital economic connection interstate and for central western NSW
  • Provides solutions for current and future road network challenges
  • Improves safety, local amenity and the travel experience for freight and passengers

At 1060kms long, the Newell Highway Corridor is the economic backbone of regional NSW.

It works as a National Highway link to domestic and export markets for agricultural products.

The highway also carries freight, tourism operators, caravanners and holidaymakers, emergency services, government, media and business owners. 

Through the strategy, investment will be targeted at upgrades in the right areas of the corridor. These will be focused to benefit local businesses and residents with an economic reliance on the corridor, and to improve freight access and use of the road.

Making sure that the highway can accommodate the increasing numbers of Higher Productivity Vehicles (HPVs) is essential. Access points onto the highway and pavement quality are part of the works to ensure we can meet this growing demand. 

The strategy also recognises it is important to balance these freight needs against broader community and environmental needs. For example this may mean the construction of bypasses in some areas and we will work to conserve high value vegetation along the corridor.

The Final Newell Highway Corridor Strategy May 2015 (PDF, 37.33 MB) was developed under the Road Network and Corridor Planning program by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and Roads and Maritime (RM). 

It ties in with the objectives of the:

  • NSW Long Term Transport Master Plan
  • NSW Freight and Ports Strategy
  • Regional Transport Plans for New England, Central West and Murray-Murrumbidgee.

The Final Newell Highway Community Consultation Report May 2015 (PDF, 1.13 MB) summarises the feedback from community members and stakeholders. This feedback was used to positively improve the strategy before it was finalised.

For more information, visit the Roads and Maritime Newell Highway page.

Project status: 

The Newell Highway Corridor Strategy was finalised in May 2015.

The strategy includes planned actions that aim to improve safety, the user experience, economic and social benefits, regional development, the amenity of towns and cross-border transport.

Actions will include efforts to:

  • Reduce maintenance costs and limit the number of road closures and diversions through key upgrades, including increased pavement strength and flood immunity works
  • Target safety, customer comfort, and improved travel speeds and times through various measures including upgraded rest areas, road geometry changes and the addition of overtaking lanes.