Orange City Council has released a time line and preliminary costings of the proposed road ahead of the completion of the north Orange bypass in 2012.

* What do you think? Have your say in the comments section below.

* View the full report and maps at www.orange.nsw.gov.au

* Don't forget to vote in our poll.

The first priority is a $2.6 million reconfiguration of the Forest Road, Huntley Road and Sharp Road junction.

A $975,000 roundabout will be built near the northern end of Sir Jack Brabham Park and a $1.62 million stretch of new road running south of Sharp Road would connect Anson Street to the roundabout.

Those works have been prioritised because the existing staggered t-intersection will be unable to cope with the extra traffic generated by the new Orange Base Hospital and the likely residential development of government-owned land off Forest Road.

It will be followed by the construction of a $975,000 roundabout at the intersection of Ploughmans Lane and the Escort Way.

Work will then take place to build the southern feeder road from the Forest Road roundabout east towards Elsham Avenue.

At the same time, the Peisley Street overhead bridge at East Fork would be widened at a cost of $650,000.

The focus would then shift back to the west.

Traffic wanting to drive from the Forest Road roundabout all the way through to the Escort Way would be directed along Woodward Street and Coronation Drive.

A roundabout would be built at the intersection of Woodward Street and Gardiner Road.

Eventually, the southern feeder road would loop behind Towac Park and along Ploughmans Lane to the Escort Way.

That work will not take place for one to two decades and would be dependent on securing huge state and federal government grants.

No funds have been allocated towards the proposed southern feeder road, other than the Forest Road roundabout, funded by Cadia Valley Operations developer contributions.

In 2007, councillors voted not to start any work on the southern road until the north Orange bypass was complete, a decision made largely to appease angry Ploughmans Lane residents.

On Thursday, councillors will be asked to fund a $200,000 geotechnical study to determine detailed costs of the road’s early stages.

Orange City Council traffic committee chairperson councillor Peter Hetherington denied council had been too slow upgrading local roads ahead of the hospital’s opening early next year.

“It’s difficult to upgrade something when we don’t know what the impact will be,” he said.

“It’s not a case of delaying the process, but trying to get the process right.”

Ploughmans Lane Action Group chairperson John Black had not read the report, released Friday, but is expected to respond today.

See the full report at www.orange.nsw.gov.au