$16 million Mitchell Highway upgrade to benefit Orange motorists travelling to Sydney

The money will be spent on widening shoulders and installing wire rope barriers, rumble strips and a wide centre line, according to NSW Government's Regional Transport and Roads minister Paul Toole.

Mr Toole announced on Monday morning the NSW Government will spend $26.4m on 15 projects, including the work on the Mitchell Highway.

"People travelling in the country are behind the wheel for longer periods of time and it's important that we have safe roads for people to be able to traverse," Mr Toole said.

"This is a big investment, but it's one that is really needed."

In terms of the Mitchell Highway work, Mr Toole said he would expect Transport for NSW to start "some early works into the next financial year and then construction will commence".

The work will be carried out at various sections along the length of the highway between Orange and Bathurst, but particular spots have not been specified by the NSW Government.

Work on some of the sections would take up to 12 months and, in some sections, up to two to three years, Mr Toole said.

Other projects making up the $26.4m of work include $1.6m for safety barriers, road signs and rumble strips on Abercrombie Road; $3.4m for a wire rope barrier on the median and rumble strips on the Mitchell Highway at Vittoria, which is separate to the $16m in safety work on the highway; and $1.14m for shoulder widening, installing roadside barriers and improving clear zones on the Great Western Highway at Meadow Flat.

Safety work will also be carried out at the Castlereagh Highway at Marrangaroo ($1.09m) and Great Western Highway at Yetholme ($950,000).

Mr Toole said the money will come from the Community Safety Fund.

"Fines that are imposed on motorists across the state go into the Community Safety Fund and it is used for educational programs for drivers across the state and for investments that go back into our roads," he said.

He said every life being lost on country roads "was one too many".

"And when you have a look at lives being lost in regional communities, this has a major rippling impact," he said.

"For someone lost locally on our roads, it's probably someone who was part of a football team, probably someone who belonged to a community organisation, someone's family that has been impacted by this loss."