Nelson Bay Road

Project Details

The NSW Government is investing $275 million to improve safety and travel times on Nelson Bay Road. The duplication of Nelson Bay Road is being delivered as a program of work. Early work to upgrade the intersection of Nelson Bay Road and Medowie Road and the intersection of Nelson Bay Road and Lemon Tree Passage Road has been completed. Transport for NSW (Transport) is currently planning for duplication of Nelson Bay Road between Williamtown and Bobs Farm as the next priority for the corridor.

Element Engagement

In consultation with Transport for New South Wales, we developed and implemented a month-long community consultation to elicit feedback from the community about the project. 

The goals of the consultation were to: 

• Inform the community and stakeholders of the proposal and possible impacts 
• Seek feedback on the proposal and issues of concern associated with the inclusion of a new offline route alignment alternative 
• Build a database of interested and concerned community members with whom Transport could engage with during the development of the project

Our consultation program engaged with the community in numerous ways and provided a variety of options for them to provide feedback on the project. These included stakeholder meetings, a project phone number and email address, letters and a Facebook Live event.  

During the construction phase of the project we have continued to provide ongoing communications support. This has included developing collateral, liaising with stakeholders and managing Consultation Manager, the stakeholder database.

Project Achievements

Our efforts during consultation led to a significant number of submissions and wide-scale community engagement with the project. Nearly 150 submissions were received, while our social media reached nearly 55,000 people and posts’ impressions reached over 65,000. 

A Facebook Live event was attended by a significant number of community members, while we also engaged with key stakeholders such as property owners, local indigenous groups, Port Stephens Council, local businesses and the Royal Australian Air Force.  

Our consultation efforts ensured a wide variety of useful feedback for the project team, while the community felt engaged and that their concerns were considered.