Camps Australia Wide thanks Barry Blair and Upper Hunter shire Council for this alert.
It’s time to give you a brief mention of the road between Willow Tree and Merriwa in NSW which is expected to be fully sealed sometime during this coming September. This particular road is some 82km in length, and once completed will provide grey nomads with some great alternatives in terms of (currently) ‘road less travelled’.
Since April 2018, the road between Blayney and Crookwell via Tuena is now fully sealed. Broadly/generally this road now provides fully sealed routes between Bathurst/Orange, Blayney, to Crookwell and beyond, including Canberra, via Goulburn/Gunning.
Keep up the good work,
Barry Blair
From Upper Hunter Shire Council (called the Horse Capital of Australia)
The $12 million upgrade of Willow Tree Road (MR 358) is on track for a September finish (weather permitting). The road is also called Merriwa Road on the Liverpool Shire side and Coulsons Creek Road on the Upper Hunter Shire area (closer to Merriwa)
Motorists please drive carefully as the new seal has loose stones on several tight corners. Whilst road construction has finished, there may be traffic delays of up to 15 minutes, as works are completed over the next two months.
(This includes a few more kms of resealing, installation of concrete causeways, 1.5km of guardrail, sign installation, line marking, grass …seeding and further drainage works.)
The linking of the Golden Highway from Merriwa and the New England Highway at Willow Tree will save around 44km each way and provide a faster and safer route in the Upper Hunter and Liverpool Plains shires for locals, visitors, and stock and produce transport.
In 2016, The Australian Government made $5.5 million available for the road upgrade through the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program.
The joint project by Upper Hunter Shire Council and Liverpool Plains Shire Council is funded with $5.57 million from the NSW Government’s ‘Restart NSW Fixing Country Roads’ program, adding to the $800,000 NSW Government’s funding from the Regional Roads REPAIR Program.
