Planning work on the Mt Ousley interchange could be "stalled" if further funding did not appear in this year's state budget, according to Keira MP Ryan Park.
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The interchange at the base of Mt Ousley would remove the right-hand turn onto the motorway from old Mt Ousley Road, include grade separation for heavy vehicles travelling south and provide a northern entrance to the University of Wollongong.
The project is in the planning stages and Mr Park said around $6 million was needed to complete the final detailed design work which would get the project shovel-ready.
Mr Park said that final planning stage was expected to take around 12 months to complete.
Calling it a "transformative project for our region", Mr Park said he was meeting with Transport and Roads Minister Andrew Constance in a few weeks to again press the issue of continued funding.
"We cannot afford a project like this to be stalled," Mr Park said.
"This allocation, of around $6 million needs to be allocated in this budget, otherwise the cost of the project increases, the project begins to stall and we get to a period where we've almost got to start again.
"That's not good enough for a project this important and which will make this big a difference to the community."
Mr Constance did not make any comment about further funding, instead passing things over to Transport for NSW.
A Transport for NSW spokesman would not confirm that just $6 million was needed to complete the detailed design work, nor where the interchange sat in the list of government priorities.
"The project has planning approval and the next stage will be to prepare the detailed design," the spokesman said.
"However, timing and funding for construction of the interchange upgrade is not yet confirmed."
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