The average Novocastrian spends a full working week stuck in traffic every year, yet the state government has limited data to show how much stress the region's bottlenecks are under.
As the long weekend and school holiday traffic hits a peak frenzy, the data from GPS navigator manufacturer TomTom shows people in the wider Newcastle region spend an average of 38 hours in congestion every year.
That figure blows out to more than 50 hours for those who live in and around the city's CBD.
Anecdotally, the region's traffic problem has become worse over the years, growing in parallel with the area's population.
But finding data to back up the frustration of drivers - and to lobby governments for bottleneck upgrades is difficult.
The Newcastle Herald lodged freedom of information requests with Transport for NSW, seeking the historical traffic volume for the region's seven most notorious bottlenecks.
They include the Pacific Highway at Highfields, Lookout Road in New Lambton Heights, Newcastle Road in Jesmond, Five Islands Road at Boolaroo, Newcastle Link Road, Maitland Road at Sandgate and Cormorant Road.
However, the department rejected the Herald's Government Information Public Access (GIPA) request.
It stated that 2013 data for three locations was already publicly available via its traffic counter, but beyond that, the historical data did not exist.
The current data is also limited, as the TfNSW traffic counter locations change year-on-year.
"Searches by the agency confirmed that there appeared to be no consistent traffic counters in the requested locations," the department stated.
"With no evidence of consistent traffic counters in the locations requested by your application, there are no reasonable grounds to believe that the requested information exists and is information of the agency."
Arcadia Vale resident Brent Hartley got fed up being stuck in rush hour traffic everyday and now takes the train into the city CBD to study at TAFE.
"It's bumper-to-bumper and the rules go out the window - it just turns into a dogfight on the road with everyone trying to get to work on time," Mr Hartley said.
It's easier for him to catch the train from Fassifern, avoiding the Five Islands and Newcastle Road rush-hour bottlenecks.
Mr Hartley relocated from Sydney last year and was surprised by how bad the region's traffic was.
"People always say to me 'you'd be used to it coming from Sydney', but Sydney has three lanes and it's always flowing," Mr Hartley said.
"Sydney is always busy, but at least the traffic is moving. It's not bumper-to-bumper, stop-start."
The limited TfNSW data does show that in less than 10 years, the daily traffic on the Hunter Express Way south of Kurri Kurri has grown by more than 10,000 movements.
The TomTom data shows it takes between 14 and 16 minutes to travel 10 kilometres in the Newcastle region, while the morning and evening rush hour can add between four and seven minutes per 10 kilometres.
NSW Regional Transport Minister and Maitland MP Jenny Aitchison said the state government would release its draft Hunter Strategic Regional Integrated Transport Plan (SRITP) for public feedback by the end of the year and would address many of the city's traffic concerns.
"This will include an evaluation of whether the transport network and services are meeting community needs and will serve growth into the future," Ms Aitchison said.
"The plan will also consider maximising the use of the existing transport network, including our road network, as well as rail and maritime infrastructure in the region."
The Herald asked Ms Aitchinson how the Hunter SRITP would differ from other transport plans that have done little to ease the region's congestion issues, such as the Hunter Regional Transport Plan 2041 and Greater Newcastle Future Transport Plan.
"Unlike previous plans, the SRITPs have involved unprecedented consultation across all levels of government, industry and community across a broad demographic," she said.
"The SRITPs are outcome focused and will include actions and initiatives to enable funding decisions to be made based on priorities, which will allow identified initiatives to be investigated immediately after the final release of each plan."
