Project Information - Picton Road Projects

Transport for NSW is investigating options to upgrade Picton Road between the Wilton Growth Area and the M1 Princes Motorway, including the interchange with the Hume Motorway.

Picton Road is an important transport corridor linking the Illawarra Region with Sydney and the Greater Macarthur Growth area and is one of two major eastwest links between the M1 Princes Motorway and M31 Hume Motorway. Picton Road is a 37 kilometre transport corridor linking the Illawarra Region with Sydney, the South West and Greater Macarthur Priority Growth areas.

Project information

Background

In November 2020, the NSW Government announced $44 million to plan for an upgrade of Picton Road between the Wilton Growth Area and the M1 Princes Motorway. Picton Road is an important transport corridor linking the Illawarra Region with Sydney and the Greater Macarthur Growth area.

Picton Road is an important transport corridor linking the Illawarra Region with Sydney and the Greater MacArthur Growth area and is one of two major east-west links between the M1 Princes Motorway and M31 Hume Motorway.

The corridor plays a significant role in the movement of supplies from key industries including manufacturing, construction, mining and logistics from the region to Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and broader areas of Western NSW.

With significant future population growth and new housing developments planned for the Wilton Growth area, Picton Road will play a key role in fostering and supporting connectivity and great places to live.

An upgrade of Picton Road would improve accessibility and connectivity for transport customers and residents in these new and emerging housing developments to diverse employment opportunities, retail, health and education facilities.

Our investigation work for the Picton Road upgrade will help us move one step closer to providing communities with improved transport connections between the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region and the Western Sydney Parklands and Aerotropolis.

In February 2019, Infrastructure Australia added the need to address capacity and safety issues on Picton Road to the Infrastructure Priority List (IPL). The IPL is a prioritised list of nationally significant investments that provides decision makers with advice and guidance on specific infrastructure investments that will underpin Australia's continued prosperity.

The Picton Road safety and capacity improvements is listed as a Priority Initiative that will need to be addressed within the next 5 to 10 years.

Benefits

The purpose of the Picton Road upgrade strategic business case is to identify and prioritise a range of projects to meet the changing customer demands of Picton Road in the short to medium term.

Upgrading Picton Road was also identified as key to meeting the demand for additional freight and improved safety in the NSW Freight and Ports Plan for 2018-2023.

The primary objectives of the upgrade program will be to:

Improve safety for transport customers using the corridor
Enable more reliable and efficient trips between Western Sydney, the Wilton Growth Area and the Illawarra-Shoalhaven to support future population and employment growth
Increase connectivity and liveability for communities serviced by the corridor, while supporting sustainable transport choices
Improve efficiency and access for freight
Provide a resilient transport corridor that seeks to conserve and respect cultural heritage and the natural environment, including habitat and biological diversity

Next steps

Transport for NSW has completed the strategic business case for the Picton Road upgrade.

The business case explored the issues and challenges experienced by customers using the corridor, developed options to maximise benefits and identified and prioritised a program of work.