What's the plan? Minister addresses highway concerns as she cuts ribbon on Raglan upgrade

Transport for NSW had been adamant for months that the new lanes on the widened road would be open by the end of the year and Regional Transport Minister Jenny Aitchison's visit made it official with a week or so to spare.

The overall project is not finished, though, and Transport for NSW says crews will be on-site in coming weeks for work that includes finalising landscaping and installing traffic lights at the intersection with PJ Moodie Memorial Drive.

Ms Aitchison spoke at Friday's opening about the challenges faced by those working on the project - including being drawn away for urgent repairs elsewhere during the flooding of recent years - but also addressed the persistent questions about what NSW Labor plans to do with the troubled section from Lithgow to Katoomba.

On that subject, Ms Aitchison said work on 1.2-kilometre and 2.4km duplications of the highway at Medlow Bath and Coxs River Road at Little Hartley are continuing and "that is a substantial amount of work that ... will take us through for the next few years".

She said planning for other projects on the highway will continue at the same time.

Ms Aitchison was joined at Friday's ribbon-cutting by Bathurst mayor Jess Jennings; Labor's Stephen Lawrence, the duty MLC (Member of the Legislative Council) for Bathurst; and Transport for NSW's regional director west Alistair Lunn.

The Regional Transport Minister said the 3.5-kilometre upgrade from Kelso to Raglan, started by the former NSW Coalition government, had been "hampered by wet weather and I want to pay a particular tribute to all of the people who have worked on the project over many years".

"It's been something that they can take enormous pride in to maintain their enthusiasm and motivation to keep working on this in such difficult conditions.

"They actually had to leave the site at different points during the program to go and work and help out other struggling communities, particularly in the Central West, during floods.

"So they can be very proud of the work that they have achieved here."

Ms Aitchison pointed to the "wonderfully wide footpath" that has been built alongside the upgraded highway.

"This will be a game-changer for safety in this area, but also for efficiency of the network and I'm really pleased to see it," she said.

Cr Jennings said the highway has now "really been cleaned up from the old days of the old Sydney Road coming in and looking a bit ratty and congested".

"Now we have something that is free-flowing," he said. "And I've got to say the workmanship that has gone into it looks fantastic.

"The traffic will now have much better access in both directions.

"I'm just looking forward to seeing these trees [planted as part of the upgrade] get up and create a bit of shade along the cycle paths in and out of town."

Mr Lawrence, meanwhile, said he was also particularly interested in the trees planted as part of the highway widening and upgrade.

"Quite clearly, a lot of emphasis has gone into beautification," he said.

IN terms of Labor's plans for the highway from Lithgow to Katoomba, Ms Aitchison said "one of the things that the NSW Government is focused on is delivering strategic regional integrated transport plans".

"They're plans that will look across the whole of the regional network to make sure that we are creating proper precincts where people are able to move from town to town effectively, efficiently and safely," she said.

Ms Aitchison said the Federal Government's infrastructure review had put the east and west section duplications of the highway from Lithgow to Katoomba "completely on hold" and "what we're saying is that we are working with them".

"They want to do strategic corridor assessments and they have highlighted this as one that needs to be done," she said.

Duplications of the highway at Medlow Bath (worth $174 million) and Coxs River Road near Little Hartley (worth $232 million) - for which contracts were signed by the previous Coalition government - are going ahead, she emphasised.

"This is a substantial amount of work that will continue and will take us through for the next few years," Ms Aitchison said.

"We will continue to do that work whilst planning on what other opportunities there are for fixing the whole of this corridor to improve it."

The Regional Transport Minister said the upgrade at Coxs River Road would involve taking the highway around the back rather than in between heritage properties.

"We've looked at the access issues for [Great Western Highway-fronting business] Lolly Bug and making sure that they will still have access there," she said.

"We think that will provide a much better amenity for residents of Little Hartley and Hartley Valley area.

"We have taken a number of them on a bit of a guided tour and showed them exactly what the roadworks are about doing.

"When they've seen the safety upgrades at the intersections connecting to the Great Western Highway, they have been pleased about that.

"It's something that we inherited - the contracts were signed before we came to government - but what we've done is made sure that we've gone back out to communities since we were elected to ensure that they're fully aware of the benefits of that project to them as a community in isolation from any plans to do a tunnel.

"It's actually just about ensuring livability for the people who live in that community."

A central tunnel from Little Hartley to Blackheath had been announced and championed by the former Coalition state government, but NSW Labor says it was always billions and billions of dollars short of what was needed to complete it.

THE opening of the Kelso to Raglan highway upgrade - featuring two lanes in both directions from Ashworth Drive to Napoleon Street, and two lanes eastbound and one lane westbound from Napoleon Street to the east of Ceramic Avenue - comes four-and-a-half years after the concept design for the project was revealed at a media conference at Raglan.

At that stage, major construction was meant to start early in the next year.

As it turned out, difficulties with property acquisitions delayed those major works, leading Member for Bathurst Paul Toole to admit in late 2020 that the process had been "a bit slow".

Serious work ended up getting started in early 2021.

Though all lanes on the highway upgrade are now open to traffic, Transport for NSW says crews will remain on-site to put up permanent safety barriers, complete the footpath near the Gold Panner Motor Inn, finalise landscaping and install traffic lights at the intersection with PJ Moodie Memorial Drive.

As part of that work, there will be traffic control in place.