SEVERAL major road safety and transport projects along the Bruxner Highway corridor have reached important planning milestones, with Transport for NSW progressing designs, undertaking new safety investigations and moving to protect land for future upgrades.
The most significant development is at the Bruxner Highway intersection with Cowlong and Alphadale roads.
Stage 1 early work on the upgrade, including warning signage, line-marking, shoulder sealing and vegetation removal is scheduled to start in November 2026, weather permitting.
Stage 2 enabling work is planned to start in 2027.
Transport recently deployed a Road Safety Incident Investigation Camera (ROSIICAM) to capture data on near-misses and crashes.
The month-long investigation was carried out from 2 July to 29 July and highlighted ongoing safety concerns at the intersection, identifying more than 600 near-miss events including 129 high-risk events.
An analysis of the ROSIICAM data found that right-turn and cross-traffic movements posed the greatest risks and that speed was also a significant factor with 43 per cent of vehicles involved in recorded events travelling above the posted 70 km/h speed limit.
The findings illustrate the safety challenges motorists face at this intersection and support the planned installation of traffic signals.
The Bruxner Highway (Cowlong and Alphadale roads) project, which has an allocated budget of $11.4 million, has progressed through site investigations with detailed design now underway.
Further east, planning is continuing for the upgrade of the Bruxner Highway and Ballina Road intersection at Alstonville.
In response to community feedback received during consultation in 2025, Transport undertook additional traffic monitoring and modelling to better understand how the proposed upgrade could affect surrounding local roads.
The modelling will help inform the final design, with an REF Determination Report and construction timeline to be released as the project progresses.
In a separate long-term planning initiative, Transport has identified a preferred corridor for a future eight-kilometre upgrade of the Bruxner Highway between Sneaths Road, Wollongbar and Kadina Street, Goonellabah.
Transport is working with state and local government authorities to protect the corridor through planning controls, ensuring land is preserved for the future upgrade should funding become available.
And to further improve safety, Transport for NSW is proposing to reduce the speed limit from 70 km/h to 60 km/h on a 1.6-kilometre section of the Bruxner Highway between Pineapple Road and Alphadale Road.
The proposed 60 km/h speed limit, planned to come into effect in November, will better reflect the road environment and reduce both the likelihood and severity of crashes.
Meanwhile in Lismore, Transport is reassessing opportunities to improve safety and efficiency at the Molesworth Street intersection. The review is examining how travel patterns have changed since the 2022 floods, including the movement of motorists, pedestrians and cyclists through the CBD.
Community feedback received during earlier consultation is also being used to help prioritise future improvements along the corridor.
Together, the projects represent continued investment in improving safety, reliability and future transport capacity across the Northern Rivers road network, with several key investigations and planning processes now approaching completion.
Quote attributable to Member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin:
“While I’m pleased that my major election commitment from 2023 to upgrade the Alphadale crossroads is finally moving forward, Transport for NSW advises that the installation of traffic signals is expected to be completed by December 2028.
“In the meantime, I have successfully pushed for a speed reduction from 70kmh to 60kmh between Pineapple Road and a point about 500 metres east of the Alphadale Road-Cowlong Road intersection, which takes effect from November this year.
“Two of my other priority projects along this Bruxner corridor include addressing concerns about the increasingly busy Molesworth Street roundabout and investing in planning for an upgrade of the highway between Wollongbar’s Sneaths Road and Goonellabah’s Kadina Street, to cope with future growth.
“We are getting all of these projects back on track post the 2022 floods which interrupted understandably regular works so our public assets – roads, bridges and culverts – could be rebuilt and landslips stabilised.”
Quote attributable to Member for Ballina, Tamara Smith:
“Our local communities know these roads better than anyone. It is great to see that community feedback has prompted further action and investment”
“Regional roads are vital to regional communities, they connect people to work, school, health services and are used heavily where public transport isn’t always reliable and expansive. Any investment to improve that is welcome”
“I thank my community for taking the time to speak up and push for better outcomes that use local knowledge to ensure that investment is going where it’s needed”
