Share Coverage
Send to KindleCategory: Road Transport / Accidents / Road / State Parliament
Upgrade of deadly section of Pacific Highway completed
Friday, 22 Jul 2016 11:18:06 | Ruby Cornish
Oxley MP Melinda Pavey (left) said the upgraded road would help save lives. (ABC News: Ruby Cornish)
A dual carriageway along a notoriously dangerous stretch of the Pacific Highway between Nambucca Heads and Urunga on the New South Wales mid-north coast has officially opened.
The road has seen 17 deaths in the past 10 years, including a head-on collision between an ambulance and a car at the Valla intersection last year.
A 17-year-old girl and her mother died in the crash.
Oxley MP Melinda Pavey said the tipping point came in 2012 when a truck collided with a ute and veered into a Urunga home, killing a child who had been sleeping inside.
"It's taken us two years to do 22 kilometres of road and it's going to be a life changer for people in this community," she said.
"It was a goat track and now it's a duplicated freeway... It's just what's needed."
Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the road toll had been falling since duplication of the entire 155 kilometre stretch of the Pacific Highway began.
"We've now upgraded about 70 per cent of the highway and since work began the number of fatalities has halved," he said.
"The time saving is important but the big saving is in lives, that's the real reason why we needed to do this."
With the new section open, road users save up to an hour and a half between Sydney and Brisbane.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
