Pittwater MP Rory Amon says a previously funded project to widen Mona Vale Road West is in doubt, and has called on the State Government to proceed with an upgrade.
Following a recent serious head-on collision on the road, Mr Amon wrote to the Minister for Roads and the Treasurer stressing that the $340 million set aside for the project must remain in the upcoming Budget.
“With each day that goes by, lives are put at risk,” Mr Amon said. “It is concerning that despite funding already allocated to the project (by the previous government), the Minns’ Government has refused to commit to the Mona Vale Road West upgrade. Instead, they seem set to cancel the project with their secret review despite its clear benefits,” Mr Amon said.
A spokesperson for TfNSW confirmed that the NSW Government ‘is doing a comprehensive and independent Strategic Infrastructure Review of the State’s infrastructure capital program’.
“The proposed upgrade of Mona Vale Road (West) is being considered as part of this review (which) will identify projects and programs that can proceed to investment and delivery and those that can be delayed, re- sequenced, re-scoped or re-prioritised,” the spokesperson said.
The upgrade involves the widening of the 3.4-kilometre stretch of Mona Vale Road between McCarrs Creek Road and Powderworks Road. Two lanes would become four, two in each direction, and a concrete median barrier would remove the risk of head on collisions.
An initial Roads and Maritime Services submissions report in December 2017 said that ‘continuation of the four traffic lanes through to McCarrs Creek Road is required to allow efficient movement of traffic,’ and that if not undertaken it ‘could also create safety issues for traffic merging and diverging’ from the previous four lanes into two.
TfNSW said that the findings and recommendations of the review ‘will be delivered to support the 2023-2024 NSW State budget’.
TfNSW also said it was continuing to prepare the detailed design for Mona Vale Road West.