Delivering Safer Roads For The Hawkesbury

People living in and around Hawkesbury will have a safer trip home thanks to more than $3.6 million in Government funding to improve five known crash sites under the 2024-25 Black Spot Program.

The Blackspot Program will fund $730,000 of safety improvements to Old Pitt Town Road at Oakville, installing curve alignment markers, flexible barriers on the roadside, motorcycle underrun on existing semi-rigid barrier and guideposts with reflectors and improving the sealed shoulder.

The Black Spot Program funds a range of safety measures at locations where serious crashes have occurred, or are at risk of occurring.

Other local black spot sites receiving funding this round, include:

• Freemans Reach Road at Freemans Reach will receive $680,000 for audio-tactile centre line, curve alignment markers, guideposts with reflectors and flexible barrier on roadside. Install motorcycle underrun on existing semi-rigid barrier and mark barrier line.

• Tennyson Road at Tennyson will receive $900,000 to install a flexible barrier on roadside, guideposts with reflectors, curve alignment markers and motorcycle underrun on existing semi-rigid barrier.

• Spinks Road at Freemans Reach will receive $780,000 for a motorcycle underrun, curve alignment markers, raised islands with additional stop, a flexible barrier on roadside and guideposts with reflectors. This funding will also be used to seal a section of the shoulder of Spinks Road.

• Hanckel Road at Oakville will receive $530,000 to install a motorcycle underrun, guideposts with reflectors, raised islands with additional stop, a flexible barrier on roadside and to remove sight distance restrictions at intersection.

Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman said they’d seen a high number of incidents at these locations.

“This makes them a clear case for the safety improvements.

“I know there is more work to be done to improve the safety of Hawkesbury roads and encourage anyone who knows of a dangerous road location near them to consider submitting a nomination for future funding rounds.

“Road safety, of course, is a shared responsibility, and this is a timely reminder to be extra vigilant and to slow down on the roads so everyone can get home safely from every journey.”

The Australian Government has substantially increased Black Spot Program funding, which is progressively rising from $110 million to $150 million per year.

This is part of the Government’s response to the worsening road toll which includes progressively doubling Roads to Recovery funding from $500 million to $1 billion a year and delivering a nationally-harmonised set of high-quality and timely data to inform road safety decision making.

The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Catherine King said the 2023-24 Budget baked in significant increases to both the Black Spot Funding Program and Roads to Recovery because they were committed to supporting local and state governments to make local roads safer.

“This means more money for local roads and less pressure on rate payers,” Minister King said.

“Every death on our roads is a tragedy and could have been avoided.

“Local communities know where their most dangerous road locations are and their ability to nominate projects under this program and work with state and local experts in reviewing nominations is why this program is so successful.”

Visit https://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/about/local-initiatives/black-spot-program for more information on the Government’s Black Spot Program, to nominate a black spot and for the full list of NSW recipients.

• Topics:

• Road Safety
• Public Works