Wollongong City Council will start work on Cleveland Road next week to provide a second direct access point into West Dapto.
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At present the only direct access into suburbs such as Horsley is Bong Bong Road, although a number of residents opt for the longer route of West Dapto Road and Shone Avenue.
The road will also offer a way for residents to get to the F6 and Dapto High School and bypass Dapto's CBD.
The works, scheduled to start on Monday, will provide a link into Cleveland Road for a road already built which starts at Fairwater Drive.
"These works are an essential part of the West Dapto Access Strategy," Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said. "Council has been talking with the West Dapto community and high school since early 2012 about improved access along Cleveland Road, Marshall Street and Western Avenue."
As well as giving a connection via roundabout to the road into Fairwater Drive, it will include a widening and realignment of the bridge over Mullet Creek and a car park and bus bay at Dapto High.
"We understand there will be inconvenience during the construction, but the improved access to West Dapto and the high school will provide benefits to both pedestrian and vehicle movement," Cr Bradbery said.
"At the end of the construction we can look forward to better pedestrian safety, reduced frequency of flooding around the bus pick-up area, improved road capacity and the new connection to West Dapto and [Dapto] primary school."
A series of traffic changes will be in place during the construction period, which is expected to last 12 months.
Among them, exits from Western Avenue and Dapto High School will be left-turn only and Cleveland Road will be one-way westerly from the U-turn bay.
The school bus bay will remain in operation until works begin on the new bridge.
When the bridge works get under way, the bus stop will be temporarily relocated to Marshall Street.
