Motorists will save nine minutes driving along the planned M1 Motorway extension from Black Hill to Raymond Terrace, according to an environmental impact statement for the project.
The NSW government placed the report on public exhibition on Wednesday after at least 17 years of planning for the project.
The EIS says the 15-kilometre extension, which is due to open in 2028, will cut peak-hour driving times by between seven and nine minutes and "greatly improve the reliability of travel times" during holiday periods.
The $1.6 billion extension includes a new 2.6km bridge spanning the Hunter River and a series of interchanges and flyovers at Black Hill, Tarro, Tomago and Raymond Terrace.
The new separated dual carriageway will bypass five bottleneck traffic lights and a roundabout at Heatherbrae and allow cars and trucks to travel at freeway speeds.
Motorists travelling north from Newcastle will benefit from the Heatherbrae bypass and reduced traffic around the existing Hexham Bridge.
The EIS says the extension will cut traffic volumes on the Pacific Highway east of Hexham Bridge by 45 per cent and on the New England Highway west of Hexham Bridge by 25 per cent.
The government started discussing the project with the construction industry in June after tweaking the road's design late last year.
The federal government has committed $1.6 billion and the NSW government $400 million for the M1 extension and a proposed widening of the congested Hexham Straight.
Hexham will be the last major bottleneck on the highway between Sydney and Brisbane when the under-construction Coffs Harbour bypass opens in 2027.
The EIS says the M1 extension will help the region's road network cope with a forecast 130,000 rise in population in the Central Coast to Newcastle growth corridor by 2036.
One in five vehicles on the major roads in the project area are trucks, or almost one in three in the case of westbound traffic on the New England Highway at Thornton.
The EIS says proposed freight, logistics and manufacturing hubs at Black Hill, Thornton, Beresfield and Tomago will put more strain on the existing road network.
"Some locations such as the Pacific Highway, north of Hexham Bridge, have experienced traffic growth of about 1.5 per cent per year," the EIS says.
"As an example of major employment and traffic growth in proximity to the project area, the proposed Emerging Black Hill Precinct has been anticipated to generate in the order of 3000 peak trips on the network when full development potential is realised."
Business Hunter chief executive Bob Hawes said the EIS on the "long-overdue" M1 extension was welcome and urged the public to examine the plans before the August 24 deadline for comment.
In the news
