Port Macquarie-Hastings Council (PMHC), in partnership with Transport for NSW, is inviting the community to provide feedback on the strategic direction of the region’s road and transport network.
At the Thursday Ordinary Meeting of Council, Councillors adopted to place the Integrated Transport Plan (ITP) on public exhibition, to allow for feedback around the priority actions and investment sought to improve the local transport network over the next 10 years and for planning beyond.
The ITP has been developed in partnership with Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) to consider the State, Regional and Local Road networks.
The goals of the ITP are to reduce congestion, support a shift in transport mode by making walking, cycling and public transport realistic alternatives for all, and to enhance road safety.
It will also help strengthen future grant applications by providing strategic alignment to meet transport network capacity requirements, anticipated changes in land use, population, and travel demand.
PMHC Director Community Infrastructure, Robert Fish, said the ITP looks at options to improve key movement corridors in critical growth areas such as the Health and Education Precinct, and surrounding places and villages such as Wauchope and coastal communities.
“The plan will seek to address the high priority hot spots within the LGA that have caused prolonged and ongoing frustration to motorists and areas that are the cause of safety concerns” Mr Fish said.
“These locations comprise of several sites along the Oxley Highway corridor including the Wrights Road and Lake Road roundabouts, King Creek Road Intersection, the Pacific Highway Interchange, as well as the Lake Road and Ocean Drive corridors.
“The ITP will also focus on improving accessibility between key destinations by providing active transport (walking and cycling) corridors and public transport service enhancements to provide better multi-modal options, drive behavioural change and reduce congestion. These include connections such as the schools-to-schools path connection from Kendall to Laurieton, active transport and micro mobility options in the Pacific Drive, Lighthouse Road and Ocean Drive corridors, and improving walking and cycling route connectivity within Wauchope such as along High Street and Cameron Street.”
It has been developed to align with the strategic direction and planning undertaken with the Regional Integrated Transport Strategy (RITS), incorporating priority actions to undertake across the Port Macquarie-Hastings transport network.
It also uses and draws on the information from detailed studies, action plans and community engagement from the recently completed Walking and Cycling Review to inform the specific detail of those actions.
