From the Newsroom

Local News

Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan MP and State Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis MP address the media on Monday, on a section of the new Pacific Highway Glenugie to Tyndale, which opened to traffic on Tuesday. Image: Lynne Mowbray

Highway opens between Glenugie and Tyndale

The Pacific Highway upgrade between Glenugie and Tyndale, opened on Tuesday, 19 May. This new 36-kilometre section of the highway has 60 bridges and is the longest section of the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade to be opened so far.

L-R Kevin Hogan MP and Chris Gulaptis MP walk a section of the new Pacific Highway upgrade at Tyndale on Monday. Images: Lynne Mowbray

The Glenugie to Tyndale section has joined up with the recently opened 12-kilometre section between Tyndale and Maclean.

A trip between Glenugie and Tyndale via South Grafton which previously took around 32 minutes, will now take around 20 minutes.

South Grafton, Grafton and the villages of Ulmarra, Tyndale and Cowper which was the scene of the horrific Cowper bus crash in 1989, have now been by-passed.

Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan said that with the opening of the highway (upgrade), it will mean that we see less fatalities in our community.

“That means our first will not have to go through some of the traumatic things that they have had to (in the past),” Mr Hogan said.

“There have been far too many fatalities on this stretch of the highway over many years, but we’ve seen that where the duel duplication has occurred in other sections of the highway, fatality numbers have fallen drastically. So, it’s an exciting day for our community,” he said.

Mr Hogan said that it has also been exciting to see the economic boom associated with the upgrade, and the upgrade is also bringing us closer to larger populations.

“As the Pacific Highway is completed, it’s going to make it easier to get to the Clarence Valley, which will improve things for our businesses and business costs and it will also increase tourism to our area, which will be very important post-Covid as well.

“It’s a very important day in the history of the Clarence Valley,” he said.

 

 

L-R Project Manager Greg Nash, Transport NSW Anna Zycki, Member for Clarence – Chris Gulaptis MP and Federal Member for Page – Kevin Hogan MP. Images: Lynne Mowbray
A section of the new Glenugie to Tyndale Pacific Highway upgrade. Images: Lynne Mowbray