The NSW government is being accused of wasting taxpayers' money by starting construction on a multi-billion dollar road upgrade that it cannot guarantee will be completed.
The Coalition government promised a $4.5 billion upgrade to the Great Western Highway, which connects Sydney with the NSW Central West, in the lead-up to the 2019 election.
In 2021, it announced it would build Australia's longest road tunnel between Little Hartley and Blackheath as part of the work.
The tunnel itself has not been funded or definitively costed.
The entire upgrade would save motorists at least 10 minutes on the journey.
The NSW government has now signed about $400 million worth of contracts to begin work on either side of the proposed 11-kilometre tunnel before the March state election.
But last year, the Albanese government put the former Morrison government's $2 billion commitment to the project on ice until more planning was done.
At the time, the state's regional roads and transport minister Sam Farraway said, "It means that the project has serious challenges and risks associated with it."
Tunnel at heart of success
At one end of the proposed central tunnel lies the historic and rural village of Little Hartley.
Starting next month, almost 2.5km of road would become four lanes — but some locals believe the process has been rushed.
Renzo Benedet from the Hartley District Progress Association said beginning work was premature, considering so little of the potentially $8 billion project had been funded.
"At this point in time the two sections that are proposed to start are uneconomic," he said.
Independent government advisory body Infrastructure Australia last year found the east and west sections would have a negative economic cost to society of $579.5 million.
It warned the cost would blow out and the benefits from upgrades on either side of the tunnel would not be seen without the underground section.
"We've got an election coming up in March and I think it becomes a political exercise not an economic or not a rational one," Mr Benedet said.
He claimed the design through the Hartley Valley was too complex and not suitable for the area, involving multiple truck stops and flyovers.
Transport for NSW has split the 34km project into three sections: east, central and west.
Mr Benedet said that had diluted the approvals processes and meant the agency could sign off on its own project.
"Where's the rigour, where's the independence?" he asked.
The state's planning department will determine the tunnel section.
Residents want more planning
On the eastern side of the tunnel is the community of Medlow Bath, where a $174 million upgrade to a 1.2km stretch of road will start next month.
Stephen Caswell from the Medlow Bath Action Group said he believed the NSW Coalition was frivolously spending money so it could be seen delivering on an election promise.
"It's one of the most outrageous examples of pork barrelling," Mr Caswell said.
"That's $174 million which could've been spent on hospitals, schools, flood victims or damaged roads in real need or repairs."
Neither group was opposed to the highway upgrade but wanted more planning to be done.
State government pushes ahead
NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway said the project could not wait.
"Whilst the Labor party in Canberra, the federal government, have tried to put the brakes on the project, we have been able to find a solution where we're going to start the broader project in stages," Mr Farraway said.
"All these smaller project and incremental stages will complement each other and by the time we're finished we'll have one of the most superior pieces of road infrastructure in this country."
The federal government has said it remains committed to working with the NSW government on the upgrade.
