Road users from Molong, Cargo and around Orange itself will also benefit from funding that will improve safety and travelling times. 

The big ticket item, $38 million towards work on the notorious Guanna Hill section of the Mitchell Highway, is well targeted spending that will benefit drivers between Orange and Molong.

Cargo Road, which has had the speed limit reduced to 80km/h for most of its length because of  safety concerns at Roads and Maritime Services, will at least get more overtaking opportunities for drivers frustrated with the slow pace of the single lane arterial road. It is a compromise, but not a solution.

Around Orange state government funding will help Orange City Council with the cost of the southern feeder road, which is integral to accommodating traffic generated by the hospital precinct and planned residential expansion to the south.

There is also funding to advance the two regional pipelines announced earlier this year, one between Orange, Blayney and Carcoar and one north from Orange to Molong and Yeoval.

The unheralded funding announcement was $41 million over four years to replace the ageing XPT fleet.

Replacing the fleet will benefit much of regional NSW, not just Orange, and comes in response to concerns raised in a Charles Sturt University study into the impacts of losing rail links to regional areas as the trains reach the end of their service life.

The commissioning of a new rail fleet will help prevent isolation and restore some fairness to the transport inequality suffered by regional residents.

But as the former transport minister Treasurer Berejiklian knows, the line must keep up with the next generation of trains if taxpayers are to see value for this spending announcement.

What the budget lacks for regional NSW are the truly game-changing capital works projects Premier Baird has been unveiling for the Sydney basin or policies to drive regional development.