Alternate Route

Updated August 2022

Wagga Wagga City Council released the Wagga Wagga Integrated Transport Strategy and Implementation Plan 2040 in August 2017.

Key projects and initiatives relative to an Alternate Highway Route contained within the comprehensive Plan include:

• Assessing the infrastructure requirements needed to meet the future needs of the Northern growth area

• Negotiate for duplication of the Gobbagombalin Bridge

• Investigating an alternate heavy vehicle route from the Sturt Highway to the Olympic Way and review heavy vehicle current usage of existing northern infrastructure

• Work with Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) to preserve a heavy vehicle bypass corridor south of the Sturt Highway within Council strategies

• Negotiate a program with the NSW Government and Federal Government for timing of a heavy vehicle bypass

• Provide a hierarchy of road networks that allow direct and efficient routes to and within Bomen

• Facilitate a freight interchange facility in a strategic location within the Bomen intermodal destination hub

• Facilitate an interchange facility/fatigue management centre within the Bomen intermodal destination hub

• Improve intersections with the Olympic Highway in collaboration with the RMS

Further to the release of the Wagga Wagga Integrated Transport Strategy and Implementation Plan 2040 in August 2017, there have been two significant State Government initiatives that will impact the scope and timing of delivery of an Alternate Route, these being:

1. The Transport for NSW and Wagga Wagga City Council released the Wagga Wagga Transport Plan in August 2022. This is the first place-based transport plan developed by Transport for NSW for a regional city in NSW. The Plan states how Transport for NSW and Wagga Wagga City Council will respond to changes in land use, population, and travel demand. It provides a blueprint for transforming the way people and goods will travel within, to and through Wagga Wagga over the next 20 years. The Plan focuses on three key themes: connected, safe, and productive. Committee 4 Wagga members provided feedback on the draft plan via a discussion with Dr Joe McGirr MP in 2021.

2. The announcement in 2019 by the State Government that the Bomen Industrial Park to the north of the City will become the second Special Activation Precinct (SAP) in the State. Designation as a SAP will provide significant momentum for investment in and development of the industrial area by government and private enterprise. Wagga Wagga City Council completed the Bomen Enabling Roads Project in 2017 which improved the Higher Mass Limit (HML) road network providing access to the Riverina Freight and Logistics (RiFL) Hub and the surrounding SAP. Further information about the Wagga Wagga SAP is available here.

Committee for Wagga expects the impact of these initiatives on Alternate Route options to become clearer as the State Government progresses with SAP and Place Plan projects.

Background

Wagga Wagga is located at the intersection of major national highways linking Sydney through to western NSW and South Australia; and Melbourne through to northern NSW and Queensland. As Wagga Wagga continues to facilitate a growing share of the national road and rail freight task, the need for a road network providing an alternate route for the city has become evident. Increasing volumes of traffic through the urban area of Wagga Wagga adversely impacts on public amenity, image and safety. 

The Sturt Highway is the major east-west link through the Murray-Riverina region, commencing at the Hume Highway junction to the east of Wagga Wagga and travelling west for 985 kilometres until it reaches Adelaide. The Highway currently runs through the centre of Wagga Wagga, passes through 4 sets of traffic lights, 4 roundabouts and directly interfaces with the central business area, a school zone for a major primary school and a number of residential areas. 

The development of an alternative heavy vehicle route will result in the following positive outcomes, realised in both the short and long term. 

• Contribute to the progression and maturity of the city as a modern, people-friendly place 

• Discourage trucks to use highly visible public areas or residential streets to de-couple and change drivers 

• Transfer to local Council the ownership and maintenance responsibility of the city’s most visible, high-profile stretch of road. The corridor can be beautified and enhanced to a higher standard befitting of a major Australian city. The road is currently unappealing and unwelcoming to both residents and visitors to the city 

• Improve safety and amenity users of the road on alternative modes of transport, such as pedestrians and cyclists 

• Significantly reduce the chance of a severe accident involving heavy vehicles 

• Improve fuel efficiencies for heavy vehicles with fewer stops and the ability to travel at higher speeds 

• Enable increased development and retail activity along Edward Street that is currently restricted and constrained by safety concerns, noise, vibrations and pollution 

• Prepare for future growth in road freight and also establish a section of the Sturt Highway suitable for high productivity vehicles such as b-triples and road trains. 

In 2015 Committee 4 Wagga engaged GHD to identify alternative highway routes to be considered and applied in preliminary planning for a bypass of the city. The analysis identified an alternate route to the south of the city as the preferred option due to more suitable topography and the use of flood-free land requiring fewer bridge upgrades or constructions. 

As a result of the work delivered by GHD, the C4Wagga received a commitment from the NSW Government to undertake a corridor study, specifically to understand the issues and opportunities relating to alternative routes for the Sturt Highway at Wagga Wagga. 

The RMS are managing the study and it is expected a report will be made available in mid-2017. In addition to the RMS study the congestion issues where the Stuart Highway travels through Wagga Wagga are identified within the NSW Long Term Transport Master Plan and the Regional Freight Transport Plan produced by the Riverina Eastern Regional Organisation of Councils (REROC). 

The proposed southern bypass begins east of Forest Hill and circumnavigates the city to the south, traversing mostly farmland before re-joining the Sturt Highway after approximately 33kms. The proposed route would allow heavy vehicles to maintain higher speeds for longer periods, rather than contending with local traffic, pedestrians, school zones, traffic lights and roundabouts as they currently do on their way through Wagga Wagga. The following calculation estimates the time savings realised per heavy vehicle. 

Based on these estimates and heavy vehicle traffic counts along the busy route, approximately 39,000 operating hours can be saved or the equivalent of 15,600,000 kilometres travelled per year. This assumes 70% of all heavy vehicles counted at Wagga Wagga are travelling through the city and not stopping to conduct business before continuing their journey. 

Alternate routes of cities and towns in Australia have been progressively completed as roads have become busier and road freight has increased. The bypass of Albury and Wodonga was completed in 2009 at a cost of $524M. In 2006 prior to the project’s completion, traffic counts along the Hume Highway through the CBD of Albury were 18,100. In contrast, an average of 18,000 vehicles movements occurred per day along the Sturt Highway at Wagga Wagga in 2010, including an estimated 2,700 heavy vehicles (15% of all traffic). 

An average of 18,000 vehicles movements per day were recorded at various points along the Sturt Highway in 2010, including an estimated 2,700 heavy vehicles.