Northern Rivers residents’ last push to upgrade ‘hindering’ rural road

Local residents and the council have lobbied for more than a decade for upgrades to this road. They are now within reach of having their complaints heard in front of a very powerful audience.

Residents have long been calling for improvements to the Clarence Way, with concerns about these unsealed sections first voiced in 2017.

A final push by fed-up Northern Rivers residents has been reignited to fix our crumbling regional roads.

The e-petition, Fix the Clarence Way missing link, before the NSW Parliament only needs a handful of signatures to progress it before the House, with many residents jumping at the chance to have their say.

The petition was started by the Bonalbo Progress Association, in support of Kyogle Council’s application under Fixing Country Roads program to upgrade the Clarence Way between the Bruxner and Urbenville.

While the region witnessed the $7.8 million completion of 14.8km of Clarence Way in March, the northern and southern parts of the Clarence Way remain unfunded.

In April, Kyogle Mayor Danielle Mulholland urged motorists to take action and sign the petition to fix “the missing link”.

“I am asking all of my friends to sign the petition and share it far and wide as this particular patch of road is hindering the economic growth of the villages along the route and is bad enough to rattle the teeth straight out of your head,” she wrote.

“We have been lobbying for funding for almost a decade now.

“We need 20,000 signatures on the petition so please help us out.

“Support people in rural communities because #ruralcommunitiesmatter.”

Residents have been lobbying for change to the highway for almost a decade.

The initial southern end project took 18 months to complete and received $4.16 million in funding through the State Government’s Fixing Country Roads Program and $3.55 million from the Federal Government’s Community Development Grant program.

During the March unveiling, Kyogle Council also stressed the importance of the route for “local agricultural industries” with upgrades to “boost economic growth and business diversification as well as provide for increased tourism, and community and employment connectivity”.

The recent NSW Budget dedicated a further $312.0 million, or $691.0 million over four years, towards the Fixing Local Roads program, which is dedicated to helping regional councils repair, maintain and seal roads.

If you are a NSW resident and want to enter the petition, head here.