Hillsborough Road upgrade stalls

Motorists have had enough of doing the peak-hour crawl along Hillsborough Road - from Warners Bay to the Charlestown bypass.

They are calling for a major upgrade to the road, which is a connector from Newcastle to west Lake Macquarie.

Resident Chris Dewhirst said the road was a "disgrace", which authorities had ignored for years.

"In peak hour, we can't get out of our driveways," Mr Dewhirst said.

Resident Kevin Lewis said the road should be converted to four lanes to the bypass.

Mr Lewis said work must be done at cross streets, where traffic turned onto Hillsborough Road.

Turning on to the road in peak hour was difficult.

"Some people will let you in, but they are few and far between," he said.

Costing had previously been done to upgrade the road to four lanes from Crockett Street to the bypass for about $24 million.

Charlestown MP Jodie Harrison said Roads and Maritime Services [RMS] were doing studies of the area.

"They are looking at all the issues and how the intersections and traffic works on that road," Ms Harrison, who is also Lake Macquarie mayor, said.

"At the moment, there is no preferred solution from the RMS.

"Because we don't know the solution, I can't say yet whether there is a commitment from Labor."

Liberal candidate for Charlestown Jason Pauling wrote to residents and said the Baird government would spend $4 million in 2015-16 to "continue planning and pre-construction" to widen the road.

Mr Pauling, who is also a Lake Macquarie councillor, said the road should be upgraded as soon as possible.

"Let's get some costings and get ready to go," Mr Pauling said.

Ms Harrison said the state government had money in the budget this financial year to plan for the road's upgrade.