Wollondilly Mayor Matt Gould has welcomed today’s announcement from the NSW Liberals and Nationals that they will invest an additional $50 million to acquire land to build the Picton Bypass, if re-elected, and called on all candidates to honour or better the pledge.

The Hon Natalie Ward, Minister for Metropolitan Roads, joined Member for Wollondilly, Nathaniel Smith MP to make the announcement in Picton this morning; committing if re-elected to provide the funding for strategic land acquisition of the preferred corridor for the Bypass which was identified during community consultation in 2021.

The $50 million commitment is in addition to $15 million previously committed by the Federal Government for the final business case.

Mayor Matt Gould said the community had been waiting for the Picton Bypass to be built for a very long time, and it couldn’t happen soon enough.

“The Picton Bypass has been spoken about since I was in primary school. Council wants to see the construction of the Bypass started urgently, so we welcome this election commitment from the Liberal party to fund the land acquisition, should they be re-elected,” he said.

“We are calling on all candidates and the NSW Labor leader Chris Minns to honour or better this commitment for this desperately needed piece of infrastructure, and ensure it is built for our community as soon as possible.”

“No matter where you live in Wollondilly, this infrastructure will benefit large numbers of road users, not only for connectivity purposes, but to free up other local roads, meaning the journey from A to B will be easier for everyone.”

“Picton Bypass will reduce traffic chaos and accidents when the historic Victoria Bridge is closed in Picton, provide an alternate route for heavy vehicles, and reduce the expected traffic increase due to future growth.”

“Perhaps most importantly, the Bypass will provide a safe evacuation route for our residents during disasters so that we never again have a repeat of the gridlock that occurred during the Green Wattle Creek Fire in December 2019.”

“Wollondilly Council and the community have been strongly advocating for the Bypass for many years; including meeting with and writing to both State and Federal Ministers, running media and social media campaigns, gathering signatures for petitions, applying for funding, and discussing it regularly in Council meetings; so, I’m pleased to see our calls are getting noticed.”

“I look forward to all candidates stepping up to pledge funding for this vital road link.”