A new $14.7 million section of the city's growing Southern Feeder Road is predicted to help further unlock Orange's south.
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Over the last decade, Orange City Council has worked on the first three stages of the southern feeder road and the new section from Anson Street to Shiralee Road, stretching 1.7 kilometres, will be the next stage.
The other stages of the project have been:
- From the top of Anson Street to Forest Road;
- From Forest Road to Elsham Ave (including the rail overpass bridge);
- From Elsham Ave to the Mitchell Highway.
Orange Mayor Jason Hamling said stage four of the project will help remove highway traffic from the city's main street but also give more options for residential traffic moving around a growing regional town.
"The key role of the southern feeder road is to build new transport connections with our health precinct and the Leewood industrial area, but there'll also be benefits for new housing areas," he said.
"The Shiralee housing area will only get bigger in future with 1700 housing lots set to be built on in the coming decades.
"Woodward Street residents have already noticed extra traffic with cars coming to and from Shiralee."
Cr Hamling said once this leg of the new southern feeder is added, Shiralee traffic will another "convenient, extra" option to connect with Forest Road, as well as the Mitchell Highway on the eastern entrance to Orange, rather than simply Woodward Street.
Council has awarded the 1.7 km construction contract project to the MAAS group.
The first phase of the project will see construction work begin on a new roundabout at the corner of Park and Shiralee Road. It also includes upgrading a 500-metre section of Shiralee Road from from Park Road to the level crossing onto Woodward Street.
Construction work is expected to begin in late March and will take around 12 months to complete, council says.
Cr Hamling said disruption to residents in south Orange will be kept to a minimum.
The Shiralee housing area will only get bigger in future.
- Mayor Jason Hamling
"We're going to be asking residents in the area to be patient in the coming year while streets in their neighbourhood are upgraded to become the new southern feeder road," Cr Hamling said.
"There will be machinery noise and temporary disruption to local traffic."
The latest $14.7 million stage of the Southern Feeder road is funded by:
- Orange City Council $4.6 million
- NSW Government's Resources for Regions program $4.5 million
- Australian Government's Heavy Vehicle Safety & Productivity Program and the Local Roads & Community Infrastructure Program $5.5 million
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