The main phase of construction on the fifth section of the Newcastle Inner City Bypass began Monday between Rankin Park and Jesmond, the state's transport department said.
Transport for NSW director Anna Zycki described the works as a "missing link" in a statement released Monday afternoon, and promised the construction would speed up commuters' travel time by as much as 80 per cent by bypassing 11 traffic-light intersections.
Fulton Hogan Construction Pty Ltd will build the 3.4-kilometre stretch of road at a cost of $450 million jointly funded by state and federal government, and is expected to open to traffic in 2025. Preliminary and preparation works have been undertaken on site over the past few months, the statement said.
The government said the works have been planned to align with ongoing construction on the John Hunter Hospital's Innovation Precinct and will ultimately provide a second second access road onto the hospital campus.
The completed project has promised to remove as many as 30,000 vehicles from Croudace Street, and Lookout and Newcastle roads each day and create up to 900 jobs during construction.
Residents, however, have waited years for the construction after initial concepts were first revealed in 2016. Four years later, the plans were significantly changed in response to community feedback, but not before the project became mired in a battle with local council over the agreed value of the land on which the road was to be built.
Last year, the City turned to the Valuer General to intercede in the impasse between the state's offer to acquire the land for $1.15 million and the council's independent valuation that came in at $1.95 million. Ultimately, the Valuer General set the price at $2.14 million - almost twice the state's original offer.
The council's CEO, Jeremy Bath, at the time described it as a "fantastic outcome for ratepayers".
All told, and weather permitting, the project will have taken just shy of a decade from original concept plans to expected completion.
