Former Port Stephens mayor Bruce Mackenzie has blasted the proposed route for a new section of Nelson Bay Road, promising to fight the NSW government to ensure it is never built.
With about 1000 acres, Mr Mackenzie is the largest landholder set to be impacted by the planned Williamtown to Bobs Farm road, which Transport for NSW unveiled as its preferred option in the days before Christmas.
The route was one of three put to the public for feedback in late 2020 and was the only option to fully deviate from the existing road corridor.
The proposed road will shave the travel time through the area and as such, was supported by commuters living in or around Nelson Bay.
But Mr Mackenzie and other landholders, whose properties will be cut in half or consumed by the road, believe widening the existing route is a better option.
The owners of businesses along the existing road have also expressed concerns about being bypassed.
"It'll stuff my whole property," Mr Mackenzie said.
"It will take away my access to hills in times of flood, where I can shift cows from one paddock to another. It's going to make my land unworkable as a farm.
"I saved and scrimped and worked seven days a week to provide for my family and save for the future, and now they're going to stuff it all - well, over my dead body."
Mr Mackenzie said parts of his land where the road is planned to run had been under "two-feet of water" in the most recent floods. "They're going to need half a million tonne of fill. They don't know what they're in for," he said.
With the preferred route now selected, the government will begin preparing an Environmental Impact Statement for public exhibition before detailed planning.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter, Taylor Martin, said "extensive feedback" informed the route selection, along with "analysis of environmental, economic and social outcomes".
"I'm confident we've come up with the most effective solution," he said.
Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said impacted landholders were rightly concerned, but she was more worried about the time it has taken to upgrade Nelson Bay Road, given the state government promised in 2015 to fully duplicate it by 2019.
"In 2019, they came back and made yet another promise, but again, three years later, not one inch of road has been duplicated," she said.
"Two Liberal premiers have promised the world, but nothing has been done," Ms Washington said.
"Their broken promises have turned the important duplication project into a debacle, our community has been left waiting for too long.
"The government needs to get into gear, give this project the priority it deserves, and ensure that genuine consultation leads to the best outcome possible."
The state government says it is investing $275 million on upgrading Nelson Bay Road in stages. The 43-kilometre road is used by about 25,000 vehicles per day, and more during holiday periods.
Some works, including at the intersections at Medowie and Lemon Tree Passage roads, have already been completed. A further one-kilometre section of the road at Bobs Farm will also be duplicated this year.
That upgrade is north of the proposed 11-kilometre new road link, which runs from Bobs Farm to Cabbage Tree Road at Williamtown and is proposed to include two lanes in each direction and feature a mostly 100 km/h speed limit. It will also include a connection to Salt Ash via the Lemon Tree Passage Road roundabout.
"We've chosen this as the preferred route for several reasons," Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Taylor Martin said.
"It will significantly reduce travel time, have less impact on existing residents, reduce congestion and is easier to build compared to other proposed options.
"We originally set out to duplicate the existing Nelson Bay Road but based on the extensive feedback we've received - analysis of environmental, economic and social outcomes - I'm confident we've come up with the most effective solution."
The government has promised suitable access for sand mining operations along the road, which will also run behind the popular Oakvale Wildlife Park. Owner Leanne Sansom said the preferred route was "not our first preference".
"Leaving the road where it currently is, is our preferred option," she said.
Ms Sansom she had held talks with Transport for NSW during consultation and the agency had agreed not to go "right through the centre of two properties we own".
She said this would allow the business to continue planning for the park's future expansion. But she said regardless, the new road would have "significant impacts".
"Noise, vibrations, light - all of those things will need to be managed," she said.
"They're all things that [Transport for NSW] is aware of and they have advised us they're committed to working through those.
"They understand the impact on breeding koalas and other endangered species we have at the park."
Port Stephens mayor Ryan Palmer said the council had highlighted during consultation the number of businesses along the existing route that would be impacted if bypassed. "A lot of people might be happy they'll save five minutes off their trip, but at what expense to those businesses," he said.
Cr Palmer also expressed concern about the existing road ultimately being transferred to council and becoming a significant liability.
