Coffs Harbour council, businesses gearing up to thrive after opening of Pacific Motorway bypass

The Coffs Harbour community is working to make the regional city as attractive as possible to passing motorists after the bypass opens. Here’s what’s happening.

Coffs Harbour Mayor Paul Amos says the city has to prepare for life after the bypass and maximise opportunities to market the town.

Coffs Harbour Mayor Paul Amos is spearheading a bid to establish a business-anchored committee to get the best results possible for the city post-highway bypass.

The build of the stretch of the M1 is well underway and the $2.2 billion dual carriageway will bypass Coffs – the last remaining pinchpoint on the highway between Hexham and the Queensland border – when it opens in 2026.

City of Coffs Harbour council will on Thursday night vote on a bid by Mr Amos to create a Highway Bypass Integration Committee.

The group would comprise two councillors (one serving as chair) and one representative from each of the following – Coffs Harbour Chamber of Commerce, Park Beach Plaza, Gowings, and a city centre trader. There would also be two community representatives.

“The City of Coffs Harbour is vulnerable with respect to how the evolving highway bypass will impact financially on our business centres,” Mr Amos said.

“The final visual impact of the completed highway bypass will also impact on how appealing and welcoming the city is.”

The detailed design for the Coffs Harbour bypass has been finalised.

Mid-North Coast towns such as Taree, Kempsey and Macksville spent millions beautifying their CBDs in a bid to shore up their viability post-bypass.

Fears were raised that towns would die once they were taken off the Pacific Motorway.

Paul Amos: “We’re trying to give Coffs Harbour a soft landing.”

In Coffs though, it seems there’s a general view the city will flourish post-bypass by preventing mostly through-traffic heavy vehicles from rumbling through town.

There is also confidence on the back of a string of major developments in the CBD.

Mr Amos said Coffs needs to be at its best to draw in motorists skirting the city on the new road.

“We’re trying to give Coffs Harbour a soft landing for when we come out the other side of the bypass,” he said.

“We need to ensure the structures sit lightly on the landscape and the entry points are welcoming. We need to use art, vegetation, architecture and imagination to achieve this.”

Mr Amos’ motion to establish a section 355 committee will include a call for it to have access to $150,000 from the Strategic Initiatives Reserve for “discretionary use in engaging the appropriate consultants to assist”.

The proposed committee would include council’s City Infrastructure director and the Sustainable Places group leader as regular attendees, but as non-voting members.