Labor has fired the first shot in anger in the battle for the seat of Hunter, promising $30 million to upgrade the road linking Morisset with the M1 if it wins government at the looming federal election.
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The Mandalong Road upgrade is seen as an important step in unlocking millions of dollars in investment in the area and addressing a traffic bottleneck.
The project includes new roundabouts at Gateway Boulevard and Wyee Road and widening the intervening kilometre of single-lane road to dual carriageway.
Lake Macquarie City Council plans to tip $10 million into the upgrade, which would serve proposed developments such as the Cedar Mill housing and recreation project at Morisset Golf Club and the $720 million Trinity Point hotel and apartments.
Labor's federal shadow local government minister, Jason Clare, will be in Morisset on Friday with departing Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon and Lake Macquarie mayor Kay Fraser to announce the campaign commitment.
The party's Hunter candidate, Dan Repacholi, would have been front and centre at the media event but has tested positive for COVID-19.
The NSW government's Draft Hunter Regional Plan 2041 identifies Morisset, along with nearby Cooranbong and Wyee, as the "largest future growth area" in the Hunter with potential for new housing, retail, recreation and industrial sites.
Cr Fraser said Morisset was starting to "boom" but Mandalong Road was an "impediment" to investment.
"You've got Watagan Park with 1500 homes, 116,000 square metres of industrial land expansion, Life and Home retail and bulky goods, the Radcliffe Wyee estate with 1500 homes," she said.
"It makes sense we need to widen that road for that development to happen and to unlock all of that land.
"The residents are saying it's already diabolical now and adding more traffic is going to be horrendous for us.
"There's long wait times, especially of a late afternoon.
"If investors want to go into Morisset, they need to have access to their business and not be delayed for half an hour or whatever it may be."
Mr Repacholi said in a media statement that state and federal Coalition governments had "ignored" the road upgrade for 10 years.
"Local residents have continued to raise this road as a major concern, making clear to me the need to fix this road and their frustration at the lack of action," he said.
The campaign promise recognises the importance of western Lake Macquarie and its tens of thousands of voters to the sprawling Hunter electorate, which Labor holds with a three-point margin.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has made two visits to Toronto with Mr Repacholi in October and January.
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