Lake Macquarie council is looking to the NSW government for funding support to complete the Pennant Street Bridge segment of the Lake Macquarie Transport Interchange project.
After the federal Turnbull government left the interchange project out of the recent federal budget, the council has been lobbying the NSW Government, hoping for a positive outcome at next month’s state budget.
The council is seeking $13 million from the Berejiklian state government, which they hope will be matched by federal funding, allowing the bridge to be built in two years.
Expected to be a major connection between Glendale and Cardiff, the Lake Macquarie Transport Interchange will provide an important transit interchange to meet the future transport needs of the Lower Hunter region. The first section of the interchange is due to open shortly.
Lake Macquarie mayor Kay Fraser has labelled the bridge "crucial" because it would allow vehicles to pass over the Sydney to Newcastle rail line, linking the Glendale Retail Precinct with the Cardiff Industrial Estate.
Fraser estimates that about 16,000 vehicles would use the Pennant Street Bridge each day.
The NRMA’s Hunter-based chairman Kyle Loades said the interchange project enjoys "unprecedented’ bipartisan Hunter support".
The Lake Macquarie Transport Interchange project is expected to cost $135 million when complete. A $15 million infusion in 2011 from the O’Farrell NSW government provided some momentum but since then, the project has faced funding issues.
Stockland development manager Kirrily Lord added that the interchange was "vitally important" to Stockland’s presence in Glendale, where it has a development application to double the number of its retail shops.
