Commentary

A page for contributions from LRTC members and others

Report submitted by the Blackheath Highway Action Group, February 2023

The Great Western Highway (the Highway) is, like the Pacific and the Hume Highways, a national freight corridor of strategic importance.  It is a vital link between Sydney, Port Botany, and the NSW Central West and beyond. 

There is broad agreement across the political aisle that the only way to deliver a four-lane dual carriageway across the Blue Mountains is to upgrade the Great Western Highway between Katoomba and Lithgow.  The Bells Line of Road corridor is not a suitable alternative because of cost and environmental factors.  There are no other viable corridors available to provide four-lane dual carriageway across the Blue Mountains.

The Blackheath to Little Hartley 11 km tunnel is of strategic importance for the Upper Blue Mountains as well as the Central West because it will address the major bottlenecks of Blackheath, Mount Victoria, and Victoria Pass. 

The existing Highway through Blackheath, Mount Victoria and Victoria Pass remains a major bottleneck with a single lane alignment that follows the original 1813 Blue Mountains crossing route.  The Highway through Blackheath is severely hampered by the very narrow corridor around the Govetts Leap Road and Bundarra Street intersection and the main western railway level crossing.  Traffic lights at this intersection have become a major impediment to the flow of traffic during peak and holiday periods.  These lights have also severely hampered access to the emerging tourism destination of Megalong Valley.

There are also traffic flow impediments around Mount Victoria.  The highway corridor at the Station Street intersection is extremely narrow with heritage restrictions in place prohibiting the highway from being widened at this point.

The Highway between Blackheath and Little Hartley has been subject to regular closure due to bushfire, snow, black ice and accidents. 

Recent weather events have strained the ageing infrastructure along this stretch of the Highway, with landslips and other related problems.  This has severely impacted the flow of traffic to the NSW Central West and beyond and has caused a significant drag on tourism in the Upper Blue Mountains and NSW Central West.  The movement of freight has also been severely impacted. 

Victoria Pass, which was hand-built by Convicts in 1832, is also a major bottleneck which was earmarked to be bypassed by the Rudd/Gillard Government in 2008.

The adverse social and economic impacts caused by the frequent weekend and holiday congestion issues around Blackheath and the unreliability of the Highway due to weather events and natural disasters such as bushfire, snow and ice are very significant.  With failing infrastructure, some of which was hand-built by convicts, we cannot afford to find ourselves again in the situation when, due to both the closure of the Highway and the Bells Line of Road, the NSW Government and its agencies are forced to advise both the travelling public and the freight industry to avoid the Blue Mountains, as has occurred several times in 2021 and 2022.

The Blackheath to Little Hartley 11 km tunnel will address the above issues and provide significant social and economic benefits to the Upper Blue Mountains as well as the Central West.

The Tunnel also has a much lighter footprint on the environment compared to a surface duplication and provides significantly more long-term benefits for local ecosystems connected to the Blue Mountains National Park and the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.

The Tunnel also provides certainty to the residents and business owners of Blackheath and Mount Victoria because, unlike other highway upgrade proposals, the Tunnel does not require any property resumption and has a very positive impact on social amenity.

We note the EIS is extensive, and comprehensive, and appears to work towards addressing the concerns of key stakeholders, particularly in relation to the local environment.

The opinions expressed on this page are those of the author(s) alone and are not necessarily those of the Lachlan Regional Transport Committee.