Repairs to Kidman Way fast tracked

A section of the Kidman Way near Cobar has been selected as one of the NSW Government’s Western NSW highways to be fast tracked for an upgrade.

A number of Western NSW highways have been included in funding allocated to regional roads projects in last week’s State Budget.

In addition to $4.25 million for the Kidman Way upgrade near Cobar, the Western NSW package includes: $87 million to continue Great Western Highway upgrades; $35 million to ongoing Newell Highway upgrades; $23 million to widening stretches of the Bells Line of Road; $12 million for the Oxley Highway; $9.8 million for the Silver Highway; $5 million for the Riverina Highway; $5 million for the Mitchell Highway at Guanna Hill; and $76 million was allocated to the Bridges for the Bush program while councils state wide will benefit from $326million in grants to fix local roads.

National Roads and Motorists’ Association Director for Western NSW, Fiona Simson, welcomed the funding.

“The funds are desperately needed west of the Blue Mountains where the greatest expanses of the state’s 180,000km road network run.

“NRMA is encouraged by the Government’s commitment to regional NSW. All too often overlooked in the past, the state’s major country highways are sorely in need of the funding this budget provides,” she said.

She said this Budget had put an extra $1.3 billion into capital expenditure compared to last year.