Pacific Hwy duplication in tatters
THE STATE Government has failed to meet Canberra's 50/50 funding split offer to complete the duplication of the Pacific Hwy.
Instead, NSW Treasurer Mike Baird promised in today's budget to allocate $1.5 billion, 20% of the remaining duplication bill, over the next four years.
The new money will help complete the Nambucca to Urunga and Sapphire to Woolgoolga upgrades on either side of Coffs Harbour, but residents living between Ballina and Woolgoola will have to wait indefinitely for their patches of the deadly stretch to be fixed.
Admitting that the much-heralded 2016 completion date was now in tatters, Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese described it as a "betrayal of all the North Coast punters ... who use this highway".
See tomorrow's Northern Star for full details.
