Reserve Street to the Princes Highway at Figtree is the most dangerous kilometre on the M1 between Helensburgh and Yallah.
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An analysis conducted by the Illawarra Mercury plotted every crash on the 53 kilometre stretch of road as it runs through the Wollongong metropolitan area and found this small strip between Figtree and West Wollongong had the highest density of the most severe crashes.
It's something Farmborough Heights resident Omar Nemer is fed up with.
"This road is the beating artery of the Illawarra, hundreds of thousands of motorists use it on a daily, weekly basis, and it needs to be upgraded to have safer roads for the community.
There were 368 crashes on the M1, one every 144 metres on average, in the Wollongong local government area between 2016 and 2020, Transport for NSW data reveals.
When looking at the most serious crashes only, those that involved a major injury or fatality, the kilometre between the Reserve Road overpass and the Figtree on-off ramp onto the Princes Highway had seen the most tragedy, with six crashes involving a serious injury and one leading to a death.
Mr Nemer said in his experience, the combination of a bend and rise heading south leads to traffic banking up behind the offramp, causing a number of close calls. Heading north, the quick succession of two on ramps, the first from the Princes Highway and the second from Robsons Road, creates havoc for drivers.
"It causes issues with traffic and congestion and potential hazards for accidents," he said.
The most tragic occurred when two people were crushed in their car between trucks underneath the Mount Keira Road overpass. Two trucks and eight cars were involved in the horror crash.
Earlier in 2019, a fuel tanker caught fire near the same location, sending plumes of thick black smoke into the air as 35,000 litres of fuel went up in flames.
2019 was a horror year for the read, with 85 incidents recorded.
This was the worst year for which data was available, after the total number of accidents dropped from 80 in 2016 to 72 in 2017, before falling to 71 in 2018.
Accidents were also down in 2020, with only 60 recorded in the data, partly due to the restrictions on travel and movement brought on by the COVID pandemic.
Plotting the incidents across the entire road reveals the hot spots where accidents continue to occur.
From north to south, accidents tend to cluster at interchanges, with relatively more incidents at the Helensburgh on and off ramps, the Mount Ousley Road off ramp, the Gwynneville exits and at the on and off ramps at Northcliffe Drive, Kanahooka Road and Fowlers Road.
There were fewer incidents at the intersections with Master Road and Five Islands Road, although the incidents that were recorded were more severe, which may be due in part to large, heavy vehicles coming from industrial areas in Unanderra and Port Kembla mixing with local traffic.
More treacherous segments also included the incline at Mount Ousley and at Bellambi Creek. In the case of Mount Ousley, while numerous accidents were recorded, they were relatively less serious than at other parts of the M1.
A Transport for NSW spokesperson said crash data was being used to inform the design of the planned Mount Ousley interchange.
"The project will also deliver a heavy vehicle bypass lane to further separate light and heavy vehicles at this location," they said.
Wollongong MP Paul Scully said the accident data matched some areas of attention with plans for a new interchange at Mount Ousley and a corridor study between Mount Ousley and Yallah, but other areas of concern were on the backburner.
"Bellambi Creek appears to have been dropped off the NSW government's budget, and the government needs to clarify whether that project is still going ahead," he said.
Originally proposed in 2016 with $84 million from the state and federal governments, the work would reconfigure the motorway and add an extra lane in each direction between Bellambi Creek and the Picton Road turn-off.
At the time, the plan was to start construction in mid-2017, a deadline clearly missed.
With further development in West Dapto and further south expected to add more cars to the road, Mr Nemer and Scully were united in calling for the government to get to work on removing some of the markers from the map.
"It is getting worse with the influx of development, especially down south, West Dapto, and the way to get to these areas is the M1, and it's only going to get worse," Mr Nemer said.
Mr Scully said all options, including public transport, needed to be considered.
"We always have to look at how we can improve road safety, one death on our roads is one death too many."
The Transport for NSW spokesperson said a strategic business case was being prepared to garner funding for upgrades along the M1, "including considerations around potential improvements to M1 at the Princes Highway offramp at Figtree/West Wollongong".
"This planning will build on previous modelling and design investigations but will also consider the bigger transport picture, including public and active transport alternatives, to complement or offset the need for the delivery of any capacity upgrades along the Motorway."
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