Councillors this week voted to bring forward funding and start acquiring land for the long-awaited road, which will extend Tripoli Way to bypass Albion Park town centre.

Before the vote, Tripoli Way resident Peter Novella asked councillors to reconsider the move, saying the proposed road would cut his property in half.

”I will not have access to the other half of my property unless I cross a two lane road,” he said.

“I have a three year old child and have great safety concerns about living there and crossing the road.”

“I built my house there with the view it was going to be a peaceful street with no traffic where we could retire.”

However councillors said the road extension had been on the cards since the early 1960s, and noted property owners would have been notified about these plans when buying their homes. 

They said it was important to speed up the road extension plans, otherwise Shellharbour may miss its chance to link in to the Albion Park Rail bypass.

“We need to accelerate this project so we will obligate the [NSW Roads and Maritime Services] to build the on and off ramps,” Cr John Murray said.

“I don’t want to see a situation like what developed in Dapto, where they said ‘we’ll build them later’ and they never came.”

Mayor Marianne Saliba echoed these views, but said she was keen to minimise any inconvenience to land owners.

She suggested that the council formally work with property owners to limit any “loss of amenity” or inconvenience during the construction phase of the road.

The council will need to acquire six parcels of private land, and will first attempt to negotiate with land owners before going ahead with compulsory acquisitions.

It has set aside $1.75 million to buy the land.

The development of the road is estimated to cost $24.8 million all up.

Despite the accelerated acquisitions and design, the completion of the road is still more than a decade away.

Stage one would begin in 2018, while stage two would be finished by 2030, the council said.