Waterfall Way Corridor Strategy
Project overview
The Waterfall Way provides a key east west connection between two of the major highways in northern NSW, the Pacific Highway and the New England Highway. It connects the rural communities of Bellingen, Dorrigo and Ebor with the urban centres of Coffs Harbour and Armidale. It is also a tourist route passing the waterfalls on the Dorrigo Mountain and it provides a transport route for the timber and agricultural industries.
Key benefits
- Progressively improving the formation width, by widening sealed shoulders and lane widths on a priority basis.
- Implementing identified clear zone and safety barrier works to remove or provide protection from hazards including culverts within the clear zone
- Planning for minor realignment between the Pacific Highway and Bellingen including accommodating for active transport users to promote safe connections.
The draft strategy has been prepared to ensure that the Waterfall Way can support the transport needs of the region over the next 20 years including by improving road safety, travel reliability and freight access.
A package of proposed works for Waterfall Way will provide customer benefits by increasing overtaking opportunities, reducing fatalities and serious injuries, improving road alignment and supporting active transport users.
Short term investment priorities for this corridor include:
- Improving overtaking opportunities between the Pacific Highway and Bellingen.
- Reviewing centreline markings to improve safety at informal overtaking locations.
- Investigating pull over bays for slow moving vehicles between Thora and Dorrigo.
- Progressively improving the formation width, by widening sealed shoulders and lane widths on a priority basis.
- Implementing identified clear zone and safety barrier works to remove or provide protection from hazards including culverts within the clear zone
- Planning for minor realignment between the Pacific Highway and Bellingen including accommodating for active transport users to promote safe connections.
Community feedback and local knowledge is valuable to ensure that all challenges along the corridor have been considered and the priorities meet expectations. Your feedback on this draft strategy will be considered to help finalise the strategy.
Community feedback and local knowledge will be addressed in a community consultation report that will be available when the final strategy is published. The community feedback from a road safety review which was undertaken in 2014 has also been incorporated into this draft strategy. The works recommended by the review have mostly been completed.
Further information on the Waterfall Way Draft Corridor Strategy can be found on the Roads and Maritime Services website.