THE Bells Line of Road-Castlereagh Connection road preservation has been labelled high priority by a government body.
Infrastructure Australia released its latest Infrastructure Priority List in March, with the recently announced Bells Line of Road-Castlereagh Connection being added.
Infrastructure Australia is a federal government body which researches large infrastructure projects, and priorities them.
The Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley Flood Management strategy has been on the list since February, 2016.
The list has also included the M9 Orbital road and rail preservation since February, 2016.
However, in the latest release, the Bells Line of Road-Castlereagh Connection was added to the ‘High Priority’ section of the list, alongside the M9 Orbital project.
The two road corridors are still only proposals, but proposed routes have been released by the state government, and Infrastructure Australia believes it is important that those corridors be preserved.
“The Infrastructure Priority List identifies preserving the corridor for the Outer Sydney Orbital road and rail/M9 as a High Priority Initiative,” a spokesperson said.
“This is distinct from building the corridor itself, which would be considered by Infrastructure Australia as a separate proposal.”
The spokesperson said any project on the list was of national significance.
“The Infrastructure Priority List provides independent, evidence-based advice to governments and industry on the projects that will most benefit our growing communities,” they said.
“In addition to projects for which we have seen and assessed a fully developed business case, the Priority List identifies high priority and priority initiatives. These are proposals that have been identified to potentially address a nationally significant problem or opportunity, but require further development and rigorous assessment to determine if they are the most appropriate solution.
“The aim is to encourage decision-makers to think strategically about opportunities to preserve infrastructure corridors and how potential solutions fit within broader networks and systems.”
