A “once in a lifetime opportunity” was how Paul Smith saw his random roadside encounter with NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey on Monday.
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It was an opportunity the Nelson Bay builder was not about to waste, raising the decades old issue of the need for a Fingal Bay bypass.
“Here I have the Minister for Roads on the side of the road so I talked to her about the bottleneck at Fingal Bay,” he said.
“All anyone is talking about is the [Nelson Bay Road] dual carriageway. But the Fingal Bay bypass should be a priority.”
Ms Pavey announced on Monday that The Bucketts Way will receive more than $8 million in funding as part of a plan to fix country roads around the Hunter.
More than $5 million is also earmarked for a new bridge over the Williams River.
Most of the money, which comes from the NSW Government’s Fixing Country Roads program, will be split between Mid-Coast and Port Stephens councils for The Bucketts Way.
That money will be used to identify and fix blackspots along the notorious stretch of road.
“The significant upgrades along Bucketts Way, expected to be completed by 2019, will help regional communities deliver better connections to nearby roads and highways, allowing goods to be transported faster and more efficiently,” Ms Pavey said.
Another $5.5 million will go to Dungog to realign and replace the Clarence Town bridge over the Williams River with a concrete bridge to cater to heavy freight vehicles.
Mr Smith’s encounter with the minister happened about noon, after he dropped an employee home in Clarence Town.
He stopped to ask a woman taking pictures of Limeburners Creek Road, the road into Clarence Town, what she was doing.
“I had no idea who she was at first,” Mr Smith said.
“There was no signage on her car or anything.
“When I asked what she was doing, she told me she was making a $5.5 million state funding announcement for the bridge [in Clarence Town] and wanted to look at what she was funding.”
Mr Smith spent about 30 minutes talking with Ms Pavey, who became the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight in January.
During that time, he talked to the minister about the long talked about and often looked over Fingal Bay bypass and showed her the gazetted route for the road on a map.
“She [Ms Pavey] said I was the second local in two days that had asked her about the bypass,” Mr Smith said.
“It sparked her curiosity. She didn’t make any promises, but said she would look into it.”
Port Stephens Council's general manager Wayne Wallis has previously told Fairfax Media that one of the biggest hurdles in going forward with the bypass was its inability to secure a parcel of land next to Nelson Bay Road, which is needed to provide a 400-metre link before work can begin.
The land is owned by the Worimi people.
Mr Wallis said the acquisition of the land was not the only hurdle, with environmental assessments, design, costing, funding and construction all contributing factors.
He said he understood the need for residents of Fingal Bay and the southern end of Shoal Bay to have a second access out of the area in times of emergencies, and the need to reduce traffic congestion through Shoal Bay and Nelson Bay in busy holiday times.