Roads in some of the Illawarra's biggest housing development areas will share in $5.6 million in NSW government funds, but Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba says much more money will be needed to actually complete the projects.
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Her council has been allocated the largest local share of the state money, with $4.2 million going towards its Tripoli Way (Albion Park bypass) project.
Wollongong will get $1.4 million: $1 million for Transport for NSW to progress a study into upgrading the M1 in the traffic-jam prone area between Figtree and Dapto, and $400,000 for Wollongong City Council to help plan upgrades in West Dapto.
"These funds will get vital projects moving so families coming into West Dapto and Calderwood can have roads fit for thriving communities," Kiama MP Gareth Ward said, announcing the funds.
Cr Saliba welcomed the funding, but warned it was a small portion of the money needed to complete the costly alternative route from Albion Park to Calderwood and other housing estates.
"We've been waiting for this announcement for quite some time," she said.
"We're about 80 per cent complete in the design stage of this road already - which is far from a new project - and this will allow us to complete the design."
She said the construction of the project - which she likened to Wollongong's mammoth Fowlers Road Bridge - would cost at least $25 million at the most conservative estimate, and up to $40 million, with the council only able to fund half the smaller amount.
"The council has collected some developer contributions which will make up about half of the cost, but we always planned to apply for state and federal funding to meet the cost of these roads," she said.
"It's a huge amount out of a local government budget."
She said the expensive project - estimated to be finished by 2027 or 2028 - was only needed because of the NSW government's decision to allow Calderwood to go ahead. Wollongong and Shellharbour councils lost the battle to stop it in the NSW Land and Environment Court.
"We objected to this so much that we went to court to try and have it stopped, however, the decision was made by the state government, so for us as part of our planning we hope to have this completed by 2027-28," she said.
"This is part of the reason we weren't considering Calderwood - we were already providing adequate new housing, and now we're punching above our weight. This is a huge piece of infrastructure that's costing an awful lot of money to service a certain group of people in a certain area. Don't get me wrong, we're very pleased with the funding."