The previously approved route for the Warrell Creek upgrade was approved in the 1990s to an earlier standard than that proposed for current upgrades of the Pacific Highway.

A review of the upgrade found that the previously approved preferred route and design would need to be modified to meet current design standards for the Pacific Highway and provide an appropriate connection between the existing Allgomera deviation and the Macksville to Urunga upgrade. The review also found that the design would have significant noise impacts on the village of Warrell Creek and would need to be substantially modified to meet current noise guidelines.

In response to the outcomes of the review, a number of options for the Warrell Creek upgrade were developed,and displayed in September 2007. The Purple option was identified as the option with the most merit. The preferred route for the Warrell Creek section is the Purple option. In response to community issues raised, the design for the Purple option was refined at the northern end to reduce potential noise and visual impacts on residences.

The preferred route for the Warrell Creek section will be included in the environmental assessment of the proposal to upgrade the highway between Warrell Creek and Urunga.

Display of route options

Four route options for the Warrell Creek section were displayed for community comment between 4 September and 30 November 2007.

Community consultation activities undertaken during the display period included a staffed display, public meetings at the Warrell Creek Community Hall and meetings with potentially directly affected landowners and residents living adjacent to the route options.

Thirty nine submissions were received in response to the display of the route options. Key issues raised during the display and through the submissions included:

• Concern about access to properties and along local roads.
• Concerns with the overall review/consultation process.
• Identification of flooding concerns.
• Social effects of severance of communities and perceptions of inequity between residents in the east and west of the study area.
• Concerns about property and land being purchased on the basis of the previously approved preferred route.
• Cultural heritage.
• Construction impacts (i.e. traffic, dust and noise).
• Property impacts, both direct and indirect.
• Biodiversity.
• Visual effects.
• Concern about emissions from heavy vehicles contaminating tank water quality.

How was the preferred route chosen?

The data used for the assessment of the route options was reviewed and (where appropriate) updated. The updated data was then used to reassess the four route options displayed in late 2007. The reassessment of the route options confirmed that the Purple option was the best performing option overall and provided the best value for money. Possible refinements to the northern end of the alignment of the Purple option to reduce potential noise and visual impacts on adjacent residences were then investigated.These investigations included face to face discussions with the owners of residences that were directly affected by a potential refinement of the route alignment.

Further review of route option

Following the announcement of the route options in September 2007, the study team obtained more refined data including updated property information, high resolution aerial photography and aerial laser scanning of the study area. The refined data enabled further investigations to be undertaken on the route options, including refinements to the vertical alignment of the options, remodelling of the noise assessment and further investigation of the vegetation types. The review confirmed the previous findings that on balance the Purple route was the best performing option.

The report is available on the Project documents section of this website or by phoning the project information line.