Problem

The Princes Highway is the primary north–south connection between Greater Sydney, the City of Wollongong, the Illawarra–Shoalhaven region and the south coast of New South Wales. It carries a mix of freight and passenger traffic for local, long-distance and tourism trips.

Between Nowra and the Victorian Border, the highway experiences congestion, has a poor safety record and has freight productivity constraints. This is caused by the challenging topography, mass-limited bridges, and the two-lane, undivided road design, which offers limited overtaking opportunities.

An average of five fatalities and 40 serious injuries per year were recorded along the corridor over the last five years. Some sections are experiencing crash rates more than double the New South Wales median fatal and serious injury crash rate.

Proposed initiative

The Australian Government released the Princes Highway Corridor Strategy in November 2019, which considers the entire length of the highway across New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The strategy identified locations between Nowra and the Victorian Border as priorities for bridge upgrades and additional passing opportunities.

The initiative is for a program of works to make the corridor safer, and more efficient and accessible. The Australian Government and NSW Government have committed funding towards the following components:

• bypass of Moruya

• duplication between Jervis Bay Road and Sussex Inlet Road

• a bypass of Milton and Ulladulla.

Next steps

Proponent to identify initiatives and develop options (Stage 2 of Infrastructure Australia’s Assessment Framework).