Registrations of Interest begins for $4.5bn Great Western Hwy Upgrade

Another major milestone has been reached on the $4.5 billion Great Western Highway Upgrade Program in New South Wales with Registrations of Interest (ROI) now underway for the East and West Packages. 

Transport for NSW is inviting experienced and qualified organisations to participate in the procurement process for the two work packages. 

Successful tenderers will undergo a two-phase procurement process which involves the Registration of Interest and Invitation for Expressions of Interest for the first phase; and the Request for Tender, submission of tenders and contract awarding in the second phase. 

For interested parties, a set of requirements has been laid out and organisations need to follow the outlined instructions from the documents provided to be able to successfully register their interest in the procurement process. For more information on the registration process, you can visit the NSW Government eTendering website. 

Registration will be open until 18 August 2022. 

To Mount Victoria (source: NSW Government - Great Western Highway Upgrade Program / West)

The Great Western Highway Upgrade Program is divided into three packages, namely the Katoomba to Blackheath (East) package, Blackheath to Little Hartley (Central) package and Little Hartley to Lithgow (West) package. 

The East works package is divided into two sections: 

• Katoomba to Medlow Bath, which will include: 
  • Widening around 3.5 kilometers of the highway between Rowan Lane in Katoomba and Bellevue Crescent in Medlow Bath to provide two lanes in each direction 
  • Connections to the Medlow Bath Upgrade 
  • New concrete twin bridges over the valley from Pulpit Hill near Explorers Road 
  • Upgraded intersections at Nellies Glen Road, Explorers Road and Foy Avenue 
  • Improved visitor parking at the Pulpit Hill heritage interpretation area 
  • A new truck stopping area to the west of Explorers Road 
  • Upgrade of the Great Blue Mountains Trail to maintain active transport connections between Katoomba and Medlow Bath 
  • Providing new formalised bus stops on the highway at Nellies Glen Road (westbound), Explorers Road (eastbound) and Foy Avenue 
  • Upgraded and new drainage infrastructure and water quality controls 
• Medlow Bath to Blackheath, which includes: 
  • Widening around 1.8 kilometres of the highway between the existing rail overbridge in Medlow Bath to about 100 metres east of Tennyson Road in Blackheath to provide two lanes in each direction 
  • Connections to the existing highway, providing two lanes in each direction 
  • Road connection ‘stubs’ for the future Great Western Highway tunnel bypass 
  • Relocation of the electrical sectioning hut in the rail corridor from next to the highway opposite Coachhouse Lane, on to Station Street 
  • Extension of the Great Blue Mountains Train alongside the National Park and Great Western Highway between Medlow Bath and Blackheath 
  • A new truck stopping area about one kilometre west of Medlow Bath 
  • Upgraded and new drainage infrastructure and water quality controls 
  • Investigating opportunities to extend utility relocations and access trains to connect to Blackheath 

The Western package, on the other hand, will include: 

• Upgrading around 14 kilometres of the highway between Little Hartley and Lithgow to a safer four-lane divided highway 
• Provision of service roads for local traffic 
• Safer, controlled access onto the highway 
• Provision of two heavy/light vehicle rest areas 
• New bridges to allow safer, separated intersections for local traffic 
• Upgrade of the existing bridge over River Lett 
• Provision of a westbound climbing (third) lane on River Lett Hill 

Lastly, the Central section of the Great Western Highway Upgrade Program will involve: 

• Twin tunnels, one eastbound and one westbound, around 11 kilometres long, generally to the south of the existing Great Western Highway and Mount Victoria 
• Two lanes of traffic flow in each tunnel, to separate traffic and increase safety 
• Road shoulders to allow vehicles to stop safely without interrupting traffic flow 
• A possible tunnel depth of up to 200 metres below ground at the deepest point to the south of Mount Victoria 
• Tunnel operation facilities including ventilation systems, drainage management, signage, lighting, and emergency evacuation systems 

Explorers Road overpass (source: Great Western Highway Upgrade Program / East)

The Australian and New South Wales Governments are jointly funding the $4.5 billion Great Western Highway Upgrade Program that will duplicate the highway between Katoomba and Lithgow to provide economic and safety benefits for the community and all road users. 

This project aims to improve the connection between Central West NSW and Sydney as well as reduce congestion, improve resilience and freight productivity around and through the Blue Mountains. 

In May of this year, the State Government announced that the project is expected to support an additional 1,400 jobs, taking the total number of jobs to be generated during construction to 3,900. 

Source: NSW Government – eTendering; Transport for NSW (1, 2, 3, 4); Australia New Zealand Infrastructure Pipeline (1, 2, 3)