News archive - Milton Ulladulla bypass

The Burrill Lake Co-Design process was concluded in late 2021. Transport thanks the Committee members for their participation in the Co-Design process and looks forward to continuing to engage with the wider community.

What was the scope of the committee?

The preferred corridor for the Milton Ulladulla bypass is confirmed and this corridor has informed parts of the scope of the Burrill Lake Co-Design Committee's assessment of the highway upgrade options through Burrill Lake, including the location of the bypass connection.

The scope of the Co-Design Committee was to assess and recommend a range of design features and intersection treatments for the proposed highway upgrade through Burrill Lake including:

• Options and intersection treatment/s at the southern connection of the Milton Ulladulla bypass
• Highway crossing of Burrill Lake
• Highway upgrade and treatment of various intersections at Burrill Lake (including the highway upgrade from the Milton Ulladulla bypass southern connection to Burrill Lake Drive)
• Highway alignment and speed environments
• Accessibility and connectivity for local vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists along the highway corridor including public transport connections and access to recreational locations and activities
• Deliver a sense of place for the Burrill Lake community. For example, shared paths to local beaches, fishing platforms, boat ramps and other potential improvements to amenities.

A report on the Co-Design process and outcome will be published to the wider community in mid-2022.

More information about the Co-Design process, including meeting minutes can be found on the Burrill Lake to Batemans Bay upgrade webpage.

WSP are working with Transport to complete the project's environmental assessment and concept design for the project. Work involves:

• Ongoing environmental investigations including ecological and heritage assessments to better understand the conditions of the area and minimise environmental impacts.
• Consultation with nearby property owners.
• As part of the environmental assessment, some local businesses and community members have been surveyed to understand the social and economic impacts and benefits of the project and how it would change business operations during construction and when open to traffic. This will inform the environmental assessment of the project and help consider the needs of transport customers and the business community as we progress the design.
• The Burrill Lake co-design committee has been established and will consider the southern connection of the Milton Ulladulla bypass. The committee brings together community stakeholders, residents, government agencies and Transport representatives to identify and recommend an option for the highway upgrade at Burrill Lake including the southern connection of the Milton Ulladulla bypass. Minutes from each meeting will be published on the Burrill Lake to Batemans Bay upgrade page. Once identified, a preferred option will be displayed to the wider community for feedback.

A preferred corridor has been confirmed for the Milton Ulladulla bypass. It broadly aligns with the corridor shown in the Shoalhaven LEP. Design features of the bypass including the location and design of access points will be identified during the concept design phase of the project.

The preferred strategic corridor option remains the preferred route because it will take more than twice the amount of traffic from the existing highway in the future, compared to western options. The preferred route also provides flexible options that will enable access to towns for residents, businesses and community members.

View the June Frequently Asked Questions document (PDF, 1.4Mb) for more information on the project.

The preferred route will deliver safer and more efficient journeys for transport customers travelling along the bypass or travelling through the town centres of Milton and Ulladulla.

Project benefits

The preferred corridor would:

• Remove more than double the amount of traffic from the Princes Highway as further western bypass options
• Be more effective at easing traffic congestion on the highway during peak periods, including holiday peaks
• Reduce traffic movements on the highway, including heavy vehicles, providing smoother and more reliable journeys to town centre locations accessed via the highway
• Improve safety for all transport customers using the highway by reducing the interaction between vehicles and other transport customers such as pedestrians
• Provide the greatest opportunity to connect the bypass by local roads to town centres, supporting ease of access to local businesses, services, and homes
• Provide greater opportunities to enhance the character and liveability of the area and support sustainable economic growth
• Have lower impacts to environmentally sensitive areas, including avoiding greater impacts to native vegetation, wetlands and Aboriginal heritage.

Thank you for having your say

Transport thanks all community members and stakeholders who participated in the consultation period of the preferred strategic corridor option for the Milton Ulladulla bypass. Transport received more than 2500 comments during the consultation period. Feedback received has been considered and Transport's responses are included in the Consultation Summary report.

View the Consultation Summary report (PDF, 4.0Mb).

Next steps

Transport has considered the feedback received and will undertake additional design and environmental investigations as part of the concept development phase of the project.

This process will result in the identification of more detailed design features for the bypass. An environmental assessment will be prepared for the preferred option.

Transport will continue to engage with community and key stakeholders including property owners within the project corridor as the project progresses.

Burrill Lake co-design

Transport has announced a community co-design approach for the highway upgrade at Burrill Lake. This will bring together representatives from community groups and residents, Transport, and other government agencies to form an independent committee. This will identify and recommend a preferred option to Transport for the highway upgrade planning at Burrill Lake.

For information about the Burrill Lake co-design visit the Burrill Lake to Batemans Bay upgrade page.

We're building a safer, more reliable, more efficient and better connected network. Watch our video to learn about the Princes Highway upgrade including the Milton Ulladulla bypass and the Burrill Lake Co-design projects.

We would like to thank the community for providing your feedback on the preferred strategic corridor option for the Milton Ulladulla bypass.

Feedback was received between 25 November 2020 and 14 February 2021, this feedback will help inform further project development. All feedback will be considered and issues and questions raised by the community will be addressed in a consultation report.

We will undertake further investigations to inform the concept design and environmental assessment phase of the proposal.

There will be further opportunities for the community and stakeholders to provide feedback as the project progresses.

The consultation period to provide feedback on the preferred strategic corridor will be extended until 14 February 2021 to get a better understanding of how the transport network operates during the peak holiday season by encouraging locals and visitors to have their say.

We are also carrying out additional traffic data collection throughout Milton, Ulladulla, Burrill Lake and Lake Tabourie over the summer holiday period to assess how the anticipated increase in visitation impacts the transport network.

For more information about why the preferred option was chosen, view the preferred strategic corridor option report (PDF, 7.4Mb) or project notification (PDF, 404Kb).

Have your say:

• Complete the online survey
• Contact us
  • Email: princeshighway@transport.nsw.gov.au
  • Phone: 1800 719 759
  • Mail: PO Box 477, Wollongong, 2520. Printed feedback forms will also be available at Ulladulla Library.

We would like to thank the community for taking the time to provide their feedback so far.

Access to view the Facebook Live Q&A event is now closed.

Transport for NSW is progressing with plans and has identified the existing bypass corridor in the Shoalhaven Local Environmental Plan (LEP) as the preferred strategic corridor option.

Following community feedback provided in March and April 2020, a number of bypass options were developed, these included:

• bypassing Milton and Ulladulla
• extending the bypass to include Milton, Ulladulla and Burrill Lake
• Further extending the bypass to include Lake Tabourie.

The options were evaluated and on balance the existing corridor in the Shoalhaven LEP was found to best achieve the objectives of the project and Princes Highway upgrade program.

This option would maximise the amount of traffic using the bypass, including heavy vehicles, and provide the most opportunities to connect to town centres, businesses, services, homes and local roads compared to other options assessed. This would provide smoother and more reliable journeys day-to-day throughout the community. It would also provide opportunities to enhance the character and liveability of the area, support sustainable economic growth and improve safety for transport users. This option would have lower impacts to environmentally sensitive areas, avoiding greater impacts to native vegetation and wetlands.

Our plan for the Princes Highway is for safer, more reliable and better connected journeys to the Victorian border. Transport for NSW is planning further work to understand the future needs and performance of the Princes Highway south of the preferred strategic corridor. This will include consideration of improvements as part of the Burrill Lake to Batemans Bay upgrade project.

For more information on how the preferred option was selected, read the preferred strategic corridor option report (PDF, 7.51Mb) and our Frequently Asked Questions (PDF, 1.16Mb).

We are inviting feedback on the preferred strategic corridor option to help develop the project. Complete the online survey.

Have your say by 14 February 2021.

Arcadis Australia Pacific Pty Ltd were recently appointed to partner with Transport for NSW for the investigation and planning phase of the project, which will include reviewing existing data, carrying out additional studies and commencing strategic design work.

A range of strategic options will be identified before finalising a preferred option which will be available for community display and feedback.

We have assessed community feedback received during the recent consultation period for the Milton Ulladulla bypass. A total of 692 submissions were received from individuals, community groups and government representatives via emails, phone calls and comments on the online consultation map.

We would like to thank everyone who considered the project and provided their feedback during the consultation period. The feedback received will be used during our investigations to develop and refine potential bypass corridor options prior to identifying a preferred bypass corridor.

View or download the community consultation report (PDF, 4.24Mb).

From 16 March to 13 April we sought your feedback on the identified corridor for the Milton Ullladulla bypass shown in the Shoalhaven Local Environmental Plan and asked to hear about how you carry out your journeys on the Princes highway through Milton and Ulladulla.

We would like to thank the community for participating and providing their feedback during this development phase of the project.

In response to COVID-19, Transport for NSW moved the community information session for the Milton Ulladulla bypass project online.

On Monday 6 April 2020, we held a 30 minute Facebook Live session with Princes Highway Program Director, Paul Vecovski, and Milton Ulladulla bypass Project Manager, Nicole Stevenson, to answer your questions about the project.