I remember stopping there as high as a kite from eating hashish on the way up the Nth Coast and thinking I was a wind up toy by the way I walked inside and I played it up. My friends with me thought it was funny.
In the 70s we would pull in there on the way home ,the fish cakes, and they had these big fat sausages ,yum o And the oak made the best yogurt ever ever 😂
I've been waiting all my life it seems to have a bypass through this nightmare. My travels to the north will never be the same when this is done. Great video !
WOW, As someone who used to live in Sydney's Nth Shore and travelled a lot up the Nth Coast and over the years since the late 1960s seen new sections of the old F3 added from Ourimba in the 80s to bypass Newcastle itself. Once I lived in Wahroogah and seen the Wahroogah to Berowa section built and now there is the tunnel there to link southern and western motorways. For the last 9 years I now live in Newcastle and driving Charlestown Rd brings back memories and now the missing section is being added to bypass Hexham bridge and the Jesmond bypass as well. There is still a section of abandoned Pacific Hwy just south of Swansea slowly being overgrown. Amazing to think now one can almost drive from Melbourne to Brisbane on Motorways. I do remember diving the old Razerback ridge into Picton now bypassed, so is Bargo/Mittagong/Goulburn/Yass being bypassed. Who remembers the old drop into Goulburn? Also, have to mention the old Bulli Pass on way to the south coast Amazing.
I remember it all! in particular, growing up in Sydney, that if you were driving up the coast in the 1960s, you had to stop at Hexham because it had only a ferry! waiting for the car ferry to come back from the other side of the river was sooo boring. The old Pacific Highway, mostly only 2 lanes, was so slow too, we were always stuck behind a truck or caravan for long periods, until a short "overtaking lane" section was reached. No bypasses, so we had to go through the centre of each town. Then there were notoriously dangerous sections of the old Highway which were known for vehicle accidents, like just before Taree. A trip to Brisbane was something that even driving 10 hours on day 1, you would only make it as far as Grafton. Travelling up the coast is so much safer and quicker these days.
About Time !!! I remember as a kid in the 80's paying the toll ( 40c ? ) on the F3 then taking nearly half a day to get to Port Stephens.. The highlight being the Oak Milk Factory right there...
You might want to include the official name of the project "M1 extension to Raymond Terrace" so that people searching for that are more likely to find your videos. There are also three other projects in the Hunter that it would be interesting to see drone updates of: * Hexham Straight widening project (widening the existing highway between Hexham bridge and the Newcastle Inner City Bypass at Sandgate to 3 lanes each way), * Newcastle Inner City Bypass Rankin Park to Jesmond (around the back of the John Hunter Hospital), & * Singleton Bypass.
Geezus that's the grooviest bypass I've ever encountered....I was up gyrating and thrusting my arms into the air. No bypass has ever had that effect on me before..💓
I have been working on this project over the last 3 years, on the design team. fantastic to see it grow into an awesome addition to the community. The last piece of the motorway from sydney to Brisbane (after the completetion of the Coffs by pass soon)
So now we have someone to blame if anything goes wrong in years to come. I hope your team did their homework concerning the floodplain. As the old saying goes, the proof is in the pudding. I say that because I was there when the Olympic site was build in Homebush and not long after one road in particular was sinking into what was swampy ground.
I live just east of there and this will make a huge difference to us travelling into Newcastle via the New England highway and not having to meet up with the traffic from Sydney.
Thanks for this update! This bypass is long overdue, and combined with the Coffs bypass you will be able to drive from Sydney to Brisbane on a full motorway (although sections of it don't technically meet motorway standards, but that's besides the point). Point is, these projects are the final piece in the long overdue puzzle.
@@jonc2037 Correct, MEL-BNE will be traffic light free, and essentially motorway. But getting through Sydney will be the real stinger with tolls, other than that it will be free.
*sigh* and here I am wishing this was operational now as I will be heading from Sydney up to Brisbane tomorrow. Many thanks JayDog, this will be amazing when it is finished.
In the 50’s and 60’s my father would come out at Minmi drive to Thorton and over to Raymond Terrace just to avoid the Hexham Bridge. Looking forward to the new M1 by-pass.
That was a pretty quiet day on the New England and Pacific Highways. Normally it is bumper to bumper even on normal days. Holidays it’s a carpark. There’s a lot happening around here with this,Hexham straight widening and Inner City Bypass at Jesmond.
A great video with good coverage. Construction seems to be progressing well. It’s easier over flat land although it’s quite wet with a high water table. Hopefully this project runs to schedule. The Hexham bridge is choke point in peak times. I noticed that the aerial shot at 3 minutes has been reversed. It a trick I use in my films but only if the movement suits. The semi gives it away.
On my drive up to Dorrigo a few weeks ago, I saw this construction and wondered what it was. Bypassing Hexham will be good. Hopefully, the cows won't mind too much.
@@BigJayDogAdventures yes, but they have hunted all the black snakes out of the construction zones into our street, got bailed up by two of them the other weekend when doing the whipper snipping.....dropped the snipper...headed for the back door to get away from them...
@@gordonrice167 I think he refers to school holidays, its a nightmare when leaving F1 towards beresfield then weaving past hexham bridge. Then traffic jam heading south at Tomago. I have watched this place for more than 40 years its a nightmare.
Pinch points - that is putting it mildly. Searing nightmares more like it. Especially Hexham bridge during holiday periods. We are so happy that progress is now evident.
Don't worry. Every time they upgrade a pinch point, another one becomes obvious. When the M1 extension to Raymond Terrace opens, the southbound run will choke between the Newcastle interchange and where it widens to 3 lanes just before the Doyalson Link Rd, particularly south of the Morisset interchange. It already chokes there, but freeing up the traffic flow at Hexham will make it far worse.
This is a great video! Beautifully shot and edited! This should make a huge difference. Can't wait for it to open. We travel that way to the mid north coast frequently. Be interesting to see how it copes in the hectic seasons!
And another awesome video is posted! The view is awesome and the video is very informative! I love how the video contains relevant information while excluding the irrelevant! It gives me more time to appreciate the view instead of jam packing my brain with information I won’t even remember. Hopefully once the construction is finished, it will reduce the traffic in the area! I’m definitely not forgetting to congratulate you on your 7k subs!! Congratulations on your 7k subs, you’ve come a long way!! You’ve improved a lot in the last few years and hopefully you’ll post for many more!!
Yes I remember them well. Especially to uphill bits, get stuck behind a truck and it was first or second gear all the way to the top. Ah The good old days.
Awesome, thanks for the video. This infrastructure is 50yrs past its use by date and it hasn't even been built? I can remember when driving semi trailers from Brisbane to Sydney, a favourite stopping place for a sleep before heading into Sydney in the 90's was the end of the freeway at Stockrington (where it went onto the flats to the Beresfield roundabout) which is part of this. I don't understand why university educated engineers are still building these roads 2 lanes in each direction. This freeway should be at least 3 lanes from Sydney to the other side of Raymond Terrace! But what do I know, I'm just a dumb truck driver who uses the roads 12 to 14 his a day
Congratulations to Big JayDog Adventures, the makers of this amazing video. It shows the progress being made on the Hexham bottleneck section. This is the sort of news I want to hear and see and reported on our moronic TV stations - all of them. One-day-wonders footy heroes are no bench mark of national achievements nor are political or social shadow boxing. Wake up Australia!!! GRL Sydney
A straight fly over from Blackhill to Raymo would be good. Got a little confused with all the different angles and rotations. Great viewing all the same. Thanks
I agree about the angles. Perhaps the data feed from the camera includes the heading (compass bearing) which might be embedded in the video. Might be annoying for some but certainly not for me.
Next get the training running again around Cessnock up into wine country from Newcastle and we are cooking as all the lines and some platforms are still there, except Cessnock of course.
About 25 years overdue. Should of been done along with the Bulahdelah mountain upgrade. But a much needed upgrade to get rid of the 2 nightmare merges to 1 lane on the way north. I might even enjoy driving to Tuncurry once it's done🤣
Great video, unfortunately like everything two lanes will increase to three when they realise two just won’t cope, trouble is the cost will be ridiculous, just like the old F3 upgrade. Governments never learn.
In the next section Heatherbrae will be bypassed. Sadly thousands of travellers won't be popping in for a Heatherbrae's pie anymore, but new owners are opening new locations and hope to go Australia wide. I wonder if a highway service centre will be built as happened at Taree, Kempsey, Nambucca etc. If so I would imagine that the bakery would open up there as happened at South Kempsey services when Fredo pies at Frederickton got bypassed.
Nice work - Thank You - State government STILL stuck in a STUPID 2-Lane each way Mentanlity !!!!!!! Should be 3 lanes MINIMUM each way for any new works.
Regional freeways are always 2 lanes unless a large hill, because on 355 days of the year it's more than ample. Be thankful it's not one lane and 2 bike lanes, with a 40k speed limit, based on transport's attitude in rural areas lately.
Thanks for the video mate. I drive into Newcastle every day and cannot wait to see the back end of this and the Hexham Straight works. The amount of National productivity and fuel wasted here over the decades would be unfathomable. For the life of me I do not know why they prioritized this as one of the final sections to be modified. I also don't understand that when they do, it will only be dual carriage throughout. Especially when expanding capacity would near impossible give the viaduct design that had to be used over the swampy terrain. Any news on the Fishmarket? Thanks again for ya work.
Thank you for an excellent overview of this construction phase. To help those not overly familiar with the location, would it be possible to include the direction the camera is pointing, either by text or voice? Perhaps direction is included in the header feed from the camera and can be embedded.
I guess even bureaucrats do learn from their mistakes, eventually ;). It is going to be interesting to see how much it affects flood levels in the Raymond Terrace / Heatherbrae area considering that most of it is being built on the local flood plane. The viaduct is definitely a plus but the large number of on/off ramps & sections of road built up above flood level through the flood plane has consumed a very large area.
as someone who travels this way alot for work i can say once this is done it will be great but while their doing it the traffic on the highway is worse than it ever was…. I couldnt help but notice this WASNT done during peak hr when it can take over an hr to get from beresfield to the hexam bridge
@@BigJayDogAdventures Wish it was as high as Stockton bridge, there is a reason to make them high - Boats and larger ones carrying things up river need access
Politicians should face jail over the time it’s taken, lives lost, time wasted in traffic. Still can’t drive out of Sydney to the South without driving local roads.
Engineers know what is required and how much it costs. Politicians haggle over money and degrade projects continually, often to justify their existence - saving taxpayers money doh..!!
Because the sections further north between Raymond Terrace and Forster/Taree were fatal accident prone goat tracks in the early 1990s, when the freeway reached Newcastle. 100 km/h undivided, 8m wide and tree lined. Or 80km/h tree lined twisty motorbike heaven. Carrying shit tonnes of traffic. Even as a child I could sense the danger. Compared to a lower speed albeit congested section that mainly sees rear enders.
Why is the (quick) rail line not being built in parallel with this - to effectively bypass Newcastle CBD? Building this parallel rail line (as a dual pair of lines) would cost very little extra and open the economic door to the north NSW of Newcastle - both coastal and New England areas - and this would pay for itself in months whereas this road will take many years to pay for itself.
Be great to not have Sydneysiders towing camper trailers and boats at mach 10 through our little town every long weekend bypassing Heatherbrae and Hexham. Cmon guys, keep it to 60 in towns please, theres always kids around and plod has several hiding spots. Keep speeding to the open road like locals do 😂
NO room for 3 lanes. It has to cut through the middle of Raymond Terrace residential area as Raymond Terrace is bound by Grahamstown Dam to the East & the Hunter / Williams river to the West preventing any diversion around the area. Apart from which you are bound by 2 lanes at the end of the M1 & bound to 2 lanes further North. Having 3 Lanes in this area would only move the bottle neck somewhere else. Even with 2 lanes the bypass will make a big difference to traffic flow by separating local & traveling traffic.
Newcastle: where roads have started at the back of nowhere and stopped somewhere equally useless since I moved here in 1991. Retired now but it might come in handy to see what it could have been like. Because it was always rusted on Labor they thought they could neglect it and the Liberals knew they couldn’t buy their votes until recently.
@@BigJayDogAdventures ,i hope you are right about the date 2026,as I remember watching on the TV news showing the PM officially kicking off construction of the Hexham bypass and at the end by saying the whole project would be finished in 2028.
Wouldn't this have been cheaper ten or fifteen years ago instead a roundabout at Beresfield turnoff only to be replaced by traffic lights and now this Hexham bypass. What has these projects cost taxpayer's?
Why do they Have to Rebuild this - the New England Highway has already got 4 lanes, what is Wrong with it??? Sure, make adjustments to the alignment but Rebuilding the whole section, just seems like a waste of Money to me.
They are NOT rebuilding any of the New England Highway. The New England highway will remain the same. This is a bypass of the New England & Pacific Hwy primarily for north / south traffic. As for the New England Highway - "What's wrong with it?" You obviously do not spend 1 hour sitting in traffic getting from Beresfield, Thornton or Raymond Terrace to Sandgate on a daily basis. Raymond Terrace residents will no longer be trapped in town during holiday periods. Raymond Terrace residents will see a end of the now so common 'gridlock' in town during afternoon rush.
As the other poster said, it's about separating through traffic from local routes like the new England and removing the Berlin Wall of traffic jam that Port Stephens has between the east and west halves in summer.
Great update, we have just had out Gympie by-pass open knocking about 20 min off a Hervey bay to Brisbane trip, when the Hexham and Coffs by-passes are done, I will be able to travel from home (Hervey Bay) to outskirts of Melbourne with NO traffic lights. When do they expect Hexham to be open
@@BigJayDogAdventures Very true. Just what you lose when towns are bypassed. In comes the multinational and franchise outlets at the mega service centres and go the local mum n dad stores
I know quite a few people who will not stop at Coolongoolook, as a protest against the fact that it was not bypassed. As far as I'm aware, there is no plan to bypass it, ever.
Who remembers stopping of at Oaks Milk Hexham for a milkshake on the trip up north??…. Good ol days!
I remember stopping there as high as a kite from eating hashish on the way up the Nth Coast and thinking I was a wind up toy by the way I walked inside and I played it up. My friends with me thought it was funny.
@ love it… too funny
In the 70s we would pull in there on the way home ,the fish cakes, and they had these big fat sausages ,yum o
And the oak made the best yogurt ever ever 😂
Yes, went there all the time they had great food there. The nearest you can get now is the powdered milkshakes & poison food from McSpew.
They had the best seafood extender sandwiches in town
I've been waiting all my life it seems to have a bypass through this nightmare. My travels to the north will never be the same when this is done. Great video !
twenty years late
WOW, As someone who used to live in Sydney's Nth Shore and travelled a lot up the Nth Coast and over the years since the late 1960s seen new sections of the old F3 added from Ourimba in the 80s to bypass Newcastle itself. Once I lived in Wahroogah and seen the Wahroogah to Berowa section built and now there is the tunnel there to link southern and western motorways.
For the last 9 years I now live in Newcastle and driving Charlestown Rd brings back memories and now the missing section is being added to bypass Hexham bridge and the Jesmond bypass as well. There is still a section of abandoned Pacific Hwy just south of Swansea slowly being overgrown.
Amazing to think now one can almost drive from Melbourne to Brisbane on Motorways.
I do remember diving the old Razerback ridge into Picton now bypassed, so is Bargo/Mittagong/Goulburn/Yass being bypassed. Who remembers the old drop into Goulburn?
Also, have to mention the old Bulli Pass on way to the south coast
Amazing.
I remember it all! in particular, growing up in Sydney, that if you were driving up the coast in the 1960s, you had to stop at Hexham because it had only a ferry! waiting for the car ferry to come back from the other side of the river was sooo boring. The old Pacific Highway, mostly only 2 lanes, was so slow too, we were always stuck behind a truck or caravan for long periods, until a short "overtaking lane" section was reached. No bypasses, so we had to go through the centre of each town. Then there were notoriously dangerous sections of the old Highway which were known for vehicle accidents, like just before Taree. A trip to Brisbane was something that even driving 10 hours on day 1, you would only make it as far as Grafton. Travelling up the coast is so much safer and quicker these days.
I remember when they first put in the Raymond Terrace bypass, originally it was only two lanes, the cheapskates
Thanks. It's great to have a visual update on this important and long overdue project.
Top presentation. I have not seen a video as brilliant and as detailed as this.
Thank you for this. Keep up the great work
Thanks and cheers mate
About Time !!! I remember as a kid in the 80's paying the toll ( 40c ? ) on the F3 then taking nearly half a day to get to Port Stephens.. The highlight being the Oak Milk Factory right there...
Finally, a video that shows what's happening. Better than any of the governments releases about the road
The government can't afford a drone.
You might want to include the official name of the project "M1 extension to Raymond Terrace" so that people searching for that are more likely to find your videos.
There are also three other projects in the Hunter that it would be interesting to see drone updates of:
* Hexham Straight widening project (widening the existing highway between Hexham bridge and the Newcastle Inner City Bypass at Sandgate to 3 lanes each way),
* Newcastle Inner City Bypass Rankin Park to Jesmond (around the back of the John Hunter Hospital), &
* Singleton Bypass.
I'd love to see these too
Geezus that's the grooviest bypass I've ever encountered....I was up gyrating and thrusting my arms into the air.
No bypass has ever had that effect on me before..💓
Good stuff
Berri bypass down south sorta did that for me.. once Nowra is done i too shall throw my arms in the air !
I have been working on this project over the last 3 years, on the design team.
fantastic to see it grow into an awesome addition to the community.
The last piece of the motorway from sydney to Brisbane (after the completetion of the Coffs by pass soon)
Nice work!
So now we have someone to blame if anything goes wrong in years to come.
I hope your team did their homework concerning the floodplain. As the old saying goes, the proof is in the pudding.
I say that because I was there when the Olympic site was build in Homebush and not long after one road in particular was sinking into what was swampy ground.
I live just east of there and this will make a huge difference to us travelling into Newcastle via the New England highway and not having to meet up with the traffic from Sydney.
Thanks for this update! This bypass is long overdue, and combined with the Coffs bypass you will be able to drive from Sydney to Brisbane on a full motorway (although sections of it don't technically meet motorway standards, but that's besides the point). Point is, these projects are the final piece in the long overdue puzzle.
👍
I may be wrong, but all these bypasses, im sure you can get from Melbourne to Brisbane non stop and no lights to speak of!
@@jonc2037 With this and Coffs all the way Brisbane to Melbourne no lights but of course will cost a motza to get through Sydney.
Yeah M7 and north connex will sting you
@@jonc2037 Correct, MEL-BNE will be traffic light free, and essentially motorway. But getting through Sydney will be the real stinger with tolls, other than that it will be free.
*sigh* and here I am wishing this was operational now as I will be heading from Sydney up to Brisbane tomorrow. Many thanks JayDog, this will be amazing when it is finished.
Cheers
She near done, Syd to the border smooth sailing. Woot woot!
In the 50’s and 60’s my father would come out at Minmi drive to Thorton and over to Raymond Terrace just to avoid the Hexham Bridge. Looking forward to the new M1 by-pass.
As someone who spent 4yrs In Major Civil Projects with Daracon I appreciate what's involved in this job. I miss it, but also definitely don't.
Excellent work BJD. Makes me happy to see all this work underway.
Cheers mate
That was a pretty quiet day on the New England and Pacific Highways. Normally it is bumper to bumper even on normal days. Holidays it’s a carpark. There’s a lot happening around here with this,Hexham straight widening and Inner City Bypass at Jesmond.
A great video with good coverage. Construction seems to be progressing well. It’s easier over flat land although it’s quite wet with a high water table. Hopefully this project runs to schedule. The Hexham bridge is choke point in peak times. I noticed that the aerial shot at 3 minutes has been reversed. It a trick I use in my films but only if the movement suits. The semi gives it away.
Cheers mate
Love these videos! Great to see the progress that is hard to see at road level.
Now do the Jesmond to Lambton heights works 😁🙏
On my drive up to Dorrigo a few weeks ago, I saw this construction and wondered what it was. Bypassing Hexham will be good. Hopefully, the cows won't mind too much.
Thanks for the update. Great editing and content. Well done
Cheers
I hope the tarmac is better than the buckets way! Massive project❤
I live at Hexham, and I can't believe how quickly they are moving with this project....
You are surrounded by construction projects but it will be worth it
@@BigJayDogAdventures yes, but they have hunted all the black snakes out of the construction zones into our street, got bailed up by two of them the other weekend when doing the whipper snipping.....dropped the snipper...headed for the back door to get away from them...
Wow
Username checks out 😂
Great video. It will eventually be a better drive when travelling north. Thanks BJD.
Most definitely cheers Lex
Not before time. We lived in the Hunter 20 plus years ago. Hexham was a pain in the arse then to get around. Great video.
lol awesome
How is Hexham a pain in the arse to get around you just went straight up the highway
@@gordonrice167 I think he refers to school holidays, its a nightmare when leaving F1 towards beresfield then weaving past hexham bridge. Then traffic jam heading south at Tomago. I have watched this place for more than 40 years its a nightmare.
Almost 40 years later since it was promised
Thank you, this will be great when finished, that bottle neck at Hexham bridge has been annoying for me for many years. 👍 nsw
Hexham Bridge and Coffs Hbr have been (the last) two pinch points for a heck of a long time.
Yes the Sydney to Brisbane trip will be hugely improved
Pinch points - that is putting it mildly. Searing nightmares more like it. Especially Hexham bridge during holiday periods. We are so happy that progress is now evident.
Don't worry. Every time they upgrade a pinch point, another one becomes obvious.
When the M1 extension to Raymond Terrace opens, the southbound run will choke between the Newcastle interchange and where it widens to 3 lanes just before the Doyalson Link Rd, particularly south of the Morisset interchange. It already chokes there, but freeing up the traffic flow at Hexham will make it far worse.
@@BigJayDogAdventures Once these are finish, you can travel from Vic boarder to Fraser Coast Qld (NO Traffic lights)
Will be great once it's done
Great, long overdue, after Coff's is done the only bottleneck will be the Gold Coast which adds back on anytime saved plus more!
Great video and thank you for sharing this big project progress too. The weather hasn’t made it easier lately.
Thanks for this can’t wait till this is finished
No worries
This is a great video! Beautifully shot and edited! This should make a huge difference. Can't wait for it to open. We travel that way to the mid north coast frequently. Be interesting to see how it copes in the hectic seasons!
That Hexham “thing” is such a damn mess. I’m glad this is being done.
That's Amazing piece of road, I have not been up that way for a while, I will have to get up and have a look. 😮
And another awesome video is posted! The view is awesome and the video is very informative! I love how the video contains relevant information while excluding the irrelevant! It gives me more time to appreciate the view instead of jam packing my brain with information I won’t even remember. Hopefully once the construction is finished, it will reduce the traffic in the area! I’m definitely not forgetting to congratulate you on your 7k subs!! Congratulations on your 7k subs, you’ve come a long way!! You’ve improved a lot in the last few years and hopefully you’ll post for many more!!
Thankyou Feather Floofs,
Amen!
Great comment, totally agree.
Congratulations!! BJ 7,000 subs!! 🎉🎉
Yes I remember them well. Especially to uphill bits, get stuck behind a truck and it was first or second gear all the way to the top. Ah The good old days.
Awesome, thanks for the video. This infrastructure is 50yrs past its use by date and it hasn't even been built? I can remember when driving semi trailers from Brisbane to Sydney, a favourite stopping place for a sleep before heading into Sydney in the 90's was the end of the freeway at Stockrington (where it went onto the flats to the Beresfield roundabout) which is part of this. I don't understand why university educated engineers are still building these roads 2 lanes in each direction. This freeway should be at least 3 lanes from Sydney to the other side of Raymond Terrace! But what do I know, I'm just a dumb truck driver who uses the roads 12 to 14 his a day
Fair call
Congratulations to Big JayDog Adventures, the makers of this amazing video. It shows the progress being made on the Hexham bottleneck section. This is the sort of news I want to hear and see and reported on our moronic TV stations - all of them. One-day-wonders footy heroes are no bench mark of national achievements nor are political or social shadow boxing. Wake up Australia!!! GRL Sydney
Hooray!!! It has been a long time coming.
Infrastructure we needed 20 years ago.
Thanks for the vid. Very interesting with a new perspective. 🙂
Cheers mate
awesome, just 25 years too late
@@thelonewolf666 ,well said!
Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Great Video Thankyou
Came through Tomago 3wks ago and the grid lock was really bad. Look fwd to its completion
Good job!
Cheers
A straight fly over from Blackhill to Raymo would be good. Got a little confused with all the different angles and rotations. Great viewing all the same. Thanks
That’s dream cheers
I agree about the angles. Perhaps the data feed from the camera includes the heading (compass bearing) which might be embedded in the video. Might be annoying for some but certainly not for me.
beautiful diagram tyvm
Next get the training running again around Cessnock up into wine country from Newcastle and we are cooking as all the lines and some platforms are still there, except Cessnock of course.
About 25 years overdue. Should of been done along with the Bulahdelah mountain upgrade. But a much needed upgrade to get rid of the 2 nightmare merges to 1 lane on the way north. I might even enjoy driving to Tuncurry once it's done🤣
Great vid love to see one of the inner city bypass
Great video, unfortunately like everything two lanes will increase to three when they realise two just won’t cope, trouble is the cost will be ridiculous, just like the old F3 upgrade. Governments never learn.
😮Shout out to the Graders, alot of earth 🌎 has been moved, leveled and compacted
Yep
About time.
I’m 77 and never thought I’d be here to see this.
@@roblachman8919 ,So True!
In the next section Heatherbrae will be bypassed. Sadly thousands of travellers won't be popping in for a Heatherbrae's pie anymore, but new owners are opening new locations and hope to go Australia wide. I wonder if a highway service centre will be built as happened at Taree, Kempsey, Nambucca etc. If so I would imagine that the bakery would open up there as happened at South Kempsey services when Fredo pies at Frederickton got bypassed.
Yes they have great pies , I had one at Goulburn
Nice work - Thank You -
State government STILL stuck in a STUPID 2-Lane each way Mentanlity !!!!!!! Should be 3 lanes MINIMUM each way for any new works.
Regional freeways are always 2 lanes unless a large hill, because on 355 days of the year it's more than ample.
Be thankful it's not one lane and 2 bike lanes, with a 40k speed limit, based on transport's attitude in rural areas lately.
Thanks for the video mate. I drive into Newcastle every day and cannot wait to see the back end of this and the Hexham Straight works. The amount of National productivity and fuel wasted here over the decades would be unfathomable.
For the life of me I do not know why they prioritized this as one of the final sections to be modified. I also don't understand that when they do, it will only be dual carriage throughout. Especially when expanding capacity would near impossible give the viaduct design that had to be used over the swampy terrain.
Any news on the Fishmarket?
Thanks again for ya work.
@@bobbavet ,I could not agree more,this should have been a top priority,not at the end,but,I suppose better late than never.
Thank you for an excellent overview of this construction phase. To help those not overly familiar with the location, would it be possible to include the direction the camera is pointing, either by text or voice? Perhaps direction is included in the header feed from the camera and can be embedded.
And then head south to the 2 lane patch quilt from the Newcastle interchange to Morriset.
Yeah that part needs to be 3 lane smooth road
holy moly, at 3:00, all the vehicles are driving backwards. Must be going back to the future
Hexham
when I see all the viaducts i think of why wasnt that done around woodburn for the M1 would have stopped a lot of flooding ...nice work RMS !!
I guess even bureaucrats do learn from their mistakes, eventually ;). It is going to be interesting to see how much it affects flood levels in the Raymond Terrace / Heatherbrae area considering that most of it is being built on the local flood plane. The viaduct is definitely a plus but the large number of on/off ramps & sections of road built up above flood level through the flood plane has consumed a very large area.
as someone who travels this way alot for work i can say once this is done it will be great but while their doing it the traffic on the highway is worse than it ever was…. I couldnt help but notice this WASNT done during peak hr when it can take over an hr to get from beresfield to the hexam bridge
At 6:40 you can see the truck I drive. Haha
Great video mate! Any chance you could do the Jesmond bypass? Cheers
This should have been completed 20 years ago.....
What kind of bridge are they going to build over the hunter river ?
This is long overdue. Hopefully the Pacific Highway will be renamed the M1 Pacific Motorway
How high will the bridge that crosses the Hunter river be?
Probably 20 metres above ground level
@@BigJayDogAdventures Wish it was as high as Stockton bridge, there is a reason to make them high - Boats and larger ones carrying things up river need access
Politicians should face jail over the time it’s taken, lives lost, time wasted in traffic. Still can’t drive out of Sydney to the South without driving local roads.
Engineers know what is required and how much it costs. Politicians haggle over money and degrade projects continually, often to justify their existence - saving taxpayers money doh..!!
Why was not this first part constructed after the freeway was extended to Newcastle?
@@anthonywalsh2164 ,I agree,that i could never understand.
Because the sections further north between Raymond Terrace and Forster/Taree were fatal accident prone goat tracks in the early 1990s, when the freeway reached Newcastle. 100 km/h undivided, 8m wide and tree lined. Or 80km/h tree lined twisty motorbike heaven. Carrying shit tonnes of traffic. Even as a child I could sense the danger.
Compared to a lower speed albeit congested section that mainly sees rear enders.
Should do the Jesmond / rankin park bypass
Promised around 25 years ago
Would be nice to fix the bylong valley way out to Bathurst the Rd is potholes that can damage cars
3:08 new world record for the worlds fastest reversing b double
It's not faked, trick photography or CGI .......
That is actually how the traffic flow really is during morning peak periods. :)
Why is the (quick) rail line not being built in parallel with this - to effectively bypass Newcastle CBD? Building this parallel rail line (as a dual pair of lines) would cost very little extra and open the economic door to the north NSW of Newcastle - both coastal and New England areas - and this would pay for itself in months whereas this road will take many years to pay for itself.
you didn't show the Heatherbrae end.
Is Oak Milk factory still there?
It's Brancourts Dairy now, they mainly do cheese, and the Hungry Jack's and Oak milkbar shut nearly 10 years ago
Hope im still alive to drive on it !!
Be great to not have Sydneysiders towing camper trailers and boats at mach 10 through our little town every long weekend bypassing Heatherbrae and Hexham.
Cmon guys, keep it to 60 in towns please, theres always kids around and plod has several hiding spots. Keep speeding to the open road like locals do 😂
Bet it's 2 lanes each way. Should be 3
NO room for 3 lanes. It has to cut through the middle of Raymond Terrace residential area as Raymond Terrace is bound by Grahamstown Dam to the East & the Hunter / Williams river to the West preventing any diversion around the area. Apart from which you are bound by 2 lanes at the end of the M1 & bound to 2 lanes further North. Having 3 Lanes in this area would only move the bottle neck somewhere else. Even with 2 lanes the bypass will make a big difference to traffic flow by separating local & traveling traffic.
Newcastle: where roads have started at the back of nowhere and stopped somewhere equally useless since I moved here in 1991. Retired now but it might come in handy to see what it could have been like. Because it was always rusted on Labor they thought they could neglect it and the Liberals knew they couldn’t buy their votes until recently.
I dont see many ppl doing 60 😂😂😂
When is it due to be completed? 2030 I'm guessing.
2026
@@BigJayDogAdventures ,i hope you are right about the date 2026,as I remember watching on the TV news showing the PM officially kicking off construction of the Hexham bypass and at the end by saying the whole project would be finished in 2028.
2026 to the bank
Wouldn't this have been cheaper ten or fifteen years ago instead a roundabout at Beresfield turnoff only to be replaced by traffic lights and now this Hexham bypass. What has these projects cost taxpayer's?
Yuck.
Why do they Have to Rebuild this - the New England Highway has already got 4 lanes, what is Wrong with it??? Sure, make adjustments to the alignment but Rebuilding the whole section, just seems like a waste of Money to me.
They are NOT rebuilding any of the New England Highway. The New England highway will remain the same. This is a bypass of the New England & Pacific Hwy primarily for north / south traffic. As for the New England Highway - "What's wrong with it?" You obviously do not spend 1 hour sitting in traffic getting from Beresfield, Thornton or Raymond Terrace to Sandgate on a daily basis. Raymond Terrace residents will no longer be trapped in town during holiday periods. Raymond Terrace residents will see a end of the now so common 'gridlock' in town during afternoon rush.
As the other poster said, it's about separating through traffic from local routes like the new England and removing the Berlin Wall of traffic jam that Port Stephens has between the east and west halves in summer.
ALP governments
Give it time they'll have half a dozen servos along that route..
Great update, we have just had out Gympie by-pass open knocking about 20 min off a Hervey bay to Brisbane trip, when the Hexham and Coffs by-passes are done, I will be able to travel from home (Hervey Bay) to outskirts of Melbourne with NO traffic lights. When do they expect Hexham to be open
👍
Construction is expected to finish in 2026!!
Thank you FF 👍
What about the Wyong bottle neck?
Best milk shakes at hexem oak factory and food wasn't bad either🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲🇭🇲
Whats happening to the old hexam bridge? I hope we can still drive along it when this is complete
Plus Coolongoolook, which will end up being the only town not bypassed.
Of course that 80km zone , it has a good servo
@@BigJayDogAdventures
Very true. Just what you lose when towns are bypassed.
In comes the multinational and franchise outlets at the mega service centres and go the local mum n dad stores
I know quite a few people who will not stop at Coolongoolook, as a protest against the fact that it was not bypassed.
As far as I'm aware, there is no plan to bypass it, ever.
@@BigJayDogAdventures Yes need to stop for me crumbed snag and sauce. lol
Yeah and a six pack
Shame it probably costs us taxpayers double what it should like most road works do!