Port Stephens Council will be asked to oppose any Italia Road quarry development proposals which do not include a new flyover at the Pacific Highway.
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Raymond Terrace-based councillor Giacomo Arnott will move at next week's council meeting that the council write to senior NSW ministers expressing its concern at truck traffic arising from multiple quarry projects near Balickera, north of Raymond Terrace.
The Newcastle Herald reported last week that the NSW Independent Planning Commission had approved the new Eagleton rock quarry, which will produce up to 600,000 tonnes of rock annually for 30 years and generate an estimated 170 inward and 170 outward truck movements a day.
Under the approval, outbound trucks will have to turn left from Italia Road onto the Pacific Highway and take a 22-kilometre detour north via the Karuah overpass before heading back south towards Newcastle and Sydney.
Building industry supplier Boral has plans to extend the life of nearby Seaham Quarry by 30 years to 2057 and almost double its maximum output to 2 million tonnes a year.
Also in Italia Road, Australian Resource Development Group is seeking approval for its Stone Ridge Quarry, which would produce up to 1.5 million tonnes of hard rock for 30 years.
The three quarry projects combined would send an estimated 1000 extra trucks a day through the Italia Road-Pacific Highway intersection, or 365,000 a year.
It is likely all of the southbound trucks would be routed north via Karuah.
Cr Arnott's motion says the Transport Minister and Planning Minister should be informed the elected council does not support any more quarry approvals without a "grade-separated fly-over interchange".
The motion before Tuesday's meeting "encourages" the ministers and the Hunter Central Coast Regional Planning Panel to adopt the same position.
Cr Arnott's motion says government agencies and quarry companies must adequately address cumulative traffic impacts of their proposals on the Italia Road intersection and the Karuah exit fly-over, "which is used by significant residential traffic and local families".
The likely truck movements from the three quarry projects prompted federal Nationals MP David Gillespie to call last year for a new interchange with slip roads from Italia Road and the Bucketts Way linked to a Medowie Road overpass.
Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
