The drilling equipment has moved in and the bulldozers will soon follow as the $1.65b Hunter Expressway moves closer to construction.

Member for Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon, today visited a site where geotechnical drilling is taking place. The drilling will inform engineers about the depth of old mine working in the area around Tucker’s Lane near Kurri Kurri.

“The pre-construction works are a sign that a long-held dream is about to become a reality. It’s been a twenty-year-long battle for me but construction on the Hunter Region’s most important infrastructure project is about to begin,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.

“It took a Federal Labor Government to plan the link between the F3 Freeway and the New England Highway north of Branxton and it took the election of another Labor government to build it.”

The Hunter Expressway will take almost four years to build and will employ 800 people in the construction phase.

Mr Fitzgibbon said the new highway will resolve many of the Hunter’s traffic nightmares including the peak-hour problems through Maitland. It will also reduce traffic movements and noise in towns like Cessnock, Branxton, Greta and Lochinvar to name a few.