Parkes Bypass

Reviewed

The Australian and NSW Governments are delivering the Newell Highway upgrade, Parkes Bypass. The Bypass will improve connectivity, road transport efficiency and safety for local and interstate motorists.

Construction of the Condobolin Road roundabout 'Halo' sculpture

Construction of the Condobolin Road roundabout 'Halo' sculpture.

Latest news

July 2025 – Southern connection open to traffic in early August

In early August, the southern connection to and from the Parkes Bypass will open to traffic, weather permitting.

Read more in our notification letter (PDF, 376.73 KB).

July 2025 – London Road and Link Road open to traffic from Monday 21 July

From Monday 21 July, Link Road will reopen to traffic, weather permitting, connecting Brolgan Road with Hartigan Avenue.

London Road between the bypass and Saleyards Road will reopen to two-lane traffic with the temporary traffic signals to be removed later in the week, weather permit.

Read more in our notification letter (PDF, 832.08 KB).

July 2025 – Victoria Street Bridge opening to traffic

Construction of the Parkes Bypass is nearing completion, and some key activities are taking place. On Wednesday 9 July, Victoria Street Bridge will open to traffic including vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, weather permitting.

This will reconnect Victoria Street to Moulden Street and Back Trundle Road over the Bypass and provide a safer access to Parkes Christian School.

Read more in our notification letter (PDF, 447.3 KB).

Read the 10 July 2025 media release.

June 2025 – Latest Community Update 

Find out more about the Halo, wayfinding and other signage in our June 2025 Parkes Bypass Community Update (PDF, 1.13 MB).  

May 2025 - Changed traffic conditions at the Condobolin Road roundabout from Monday 2 June

Read our notification letter (PDF, 434.48 KB) for more information

April 2025 - Traffic switch onto the new Parkes Bypass from Tuesday 15 April

From 15 April, motorists travelling the Newell Highway through Parkes will be able to travel on entire Bypass, in both directions. 

While works are completed on the access points with the current Newell Highway north and south of Parkes, there will be temporary traffic changes in place for up to three months, weather permitting.

Read our notification letter (PDF, 1.74 MB) for more information.

Read the 17 April 2025 media release.

 

Lifting the final span of girders for the Bridge over Rail in October 2024

Aerial view of the new Victoria Street Bridge over the Parkes Bypass.

Project information

Background

Transport for NSW is building a new 10.5-kilometre bypass on the western outskirts of Parkes to reduce travel time, improve freight productivity and efficiency, pedestrian access through Parkes and traffic flow.

We are delivering this work as part of the $1.5 billion investment for the Newell Highway corridor funded by the Australian and NSW Governments.

The upgrade involves relocating the highway about two kilometres west, between Maguire Road to the north and Barkers Road to the south - a total length of 10.5 kilometres. The bypass will remove up to 1200 trucks per day from local streets and improve safety for motorists.

View or download the Parkes Bypass Detailed Design (JPG, 1.18Mb).

Objectives

The Parkes Bypass will improve:

  • Freight efficiency and productivity
  • Access for high productivity vehicles (double road trains, B-triples, AB triples) through Parkes as well as providing a link to existing road train routes to the west
  • Safety of the railway level crossings
  • Travel times at Forbes Road level crossing (near Hartigan Avenue) and the Welcome level crossing
  • Pedestrian access in Parkes particularly across Bogan Street
  • Access to the Parkes Special Activation Precinct.

Features

The new highway west of Parkes will be about 10.5 kilometres long and key features include:
A two-lane road (one lane in each direction) with five key intersections including:

  • Two T-intersections, north and south between the existing Newell Highway and the Bypass
  • A split T-intersection at London Road
  • A four-way roundabout at Condobolin Road
  • A T-intersection with Bogan Road.

Two bridges:

  • A bridge over two rail lines and Hartigan Ave
  • A bridge over the Bypass on Victoria Street.

An extension of Hartigan Avenue (Henry Parkes Way) with intersection with Brolgan Road, Billy Mac Place and Condobolin Road.

Realignment, reconfiguration and changes to local roads including:

  • Shifting part of Moulden Street to the west
  • Maguire Road and Nock Road converted to cul-de-sacs
  • New connection between Brolgan Road and Hartigan Avenue
  • Connection between Thomas Street and Mitchell Street via the Reedsdale Road extension.

A new shared path for pedestrians and cyclists which will connect Brolgan Road, Condobolin Road and Victoria Street.

Naturally Occurring Asbestos

Following the discovery of Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOA) on the Parkes Bypass site in 2022, Transport for NSW and lead contractor Georgiou Group have worked together to safely excavate and encapsulate NOA within the project site, in accordance with Transport’s approved Asbestos Management Plan.

Transport takes its role in protecting the safety of the community very seriously and will continue to work closely with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) & SafeWork NSW in relation to the ongoing management of the site.

Read more about Naturally Occurring Asbestos in our latest update (PDF, 1.45 MB) and Frequently Asked Questions (PDF, 2.2 MB).

Air monitoring devices have been installed in multiple locations to monitor the levels of asbestos in the air.

Transport takes its role in protecting the safety of the community very seriously and will continue to work closely with the EPA & SafeWork NSW in relation to the ongoing management of the site.

The results of air monitoring tests, which were installed to monitor the levels of asbestos in the air, are available below.

2025

2024

2023

2022

Naturally Occurring Asbestos Updates

More project visualisations

View more project visualisations on the Project photos, graphics and visualisations page.

Project documents

Some documents on this page may not comply with accessibility requirements (WCAG).

If you are having trouble accessing information in these documents, please contact us.

 

Project notifications

Community updates

Displays and posters

Reports

Review of Environmental Factors

Media releases

  • 9 July 2025 - Victoria Street bridge opens to traffic
  • 17 April 2025 - Major milestone for Parkes Bypass
  • 30 January 2025 - Parkes traffic changes as new bypass nears completion
  • 24 January 2025 - Wiradjuri culture recognised in Parkes Bypass artworks
  • 13 November 2024 - Largest roundabout ijn the Central West opens to traffic
  • 15 October 2024 - Parkes Bypass project enters heavy lifting phase
  • 5 July 2024 - New Parkes roundabout to be the biggest in the central west
  • 22 February 2024 - Work continuing on fully funded Parkes bypass project
  • 22 February 2024 - Make the switch: Hartigan Avenue extension open to traffic as Parkes Bypass hits new milestone
  • 14 October 2023 - Build it up: 30 girders to support new bridge as part of the Parkes Bypass project
  • 6 October 2023 - Piling on the excitement as work starts for Parkes’ new Victoria Street bridge
  • 8 May 2023 - Drop-in community sessions to provide updates on the Parkes Bypass
  • 15 June 2022 - 1,200 trucks through Parkes a thing of the past thanks to bypass.
  • 28 January 2022 - Victoria Street bridge next step for Parkes bypass.
  • 15 November 2021 - First sod turned on $187 million Parkes Bypass.
  • 25 August 2021 - Contract awarded for construction of Parkes Bypass.
  • 22 July 2021 - Focus on local links in countdown to Parkes Bypass.
  • 2 June 2021 - 12Km of fencing, 12,000T of concrete for next stage of bypass build.
  • 15 April 2021 - Local contractors called to help build Parkes Bypass.
  • 18 March 2021 - Tenders invited for the Parkes Bypass.
  • 2 September 2020 - Early work to power the Parkes Bypass.
  • 14 February 2020 - Community shapes Parkes Bypass.
  • 26 June 2019 - Have your say on proposed Parkes bypass.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

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Contact us

For further information about this project, please contact:

Phone: 1800 741 636 (option 3)

Email: newell.upgrade@transport.nsw.gov.au

Mail: Newell Highway upgrade, Parkes Bypass; PO Box 334, Parkes NSW 2870

 

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