Traffic was bumper-to-bumper at the Hexham bottleneck Thursday afternoon as holidaymakers made their move for the Easter weekend.
High volumes of traffic were expected approaching Beresfield toward Tarro, Hexham and Heatherbrae ahead of four consecutive public holidays over the Easter weekend.
The NSW Transport Management Centre was tracking heavy traffic along John Renshaw Drive toward Beresfield Thursday evening, as well as congestion on the New England Highway from Tarro to Hexham. Northbound traffic was at a crawling pace on the Pacific Highway between Hexham and Heatherbrae, and oN Raymond Terrace Road at Millers Forest.
Police have already indicated they would target reckless drivers over what has traditionally been one of the deadliest weekends of the year on Australian roads.
Drivers have been urged to plan their trips and to allow extra time as holidaymakers look to escape the city for the weekend.
Officers launched a visibility campaign on Thursday, April 6, to focus on speeding, drunk and fatigued drivers and riders, as well as anyone failing to follow road safety laws.
It comes as the state ramped up repairs to roads after last year's extreme weather, amounting to around 3000 kilometres of state road repairs undertaken since February.
"Since the last holiday period over Christmas, almost 25,000 potholes have been repaired on state roads across NSW, which takes the total since the first wave of severe weather in February last year to more than 234,000," Transport NSW director Roger Weeks said.
"But the road to recovery isn't over yet, with repairs still underway on sections of the Cobb Highway, Newell Highway, Mitchell Highway and Oxley Highway in regional NSW.
"We're urging motorists to allow extra travel time, check for road closures, and always follow the road rules and drive to conditions."
There were 34 deaths on NSW roads in March, eclipsing the 28 deaths for the same month in 2022. Newcastle accounted for four of the state's 73 fatal crashes to date in 2023, one more than in 2022.
