Work ramps up near Tamworth’s busiest intersection

Construction activity will increase near the intersection of Jewry and Peel Street on the northern edge of Tamworth’s CBD in the coming weeks in preparation for next month’s work on a key stage of the Manilla Road Upgrade.

Tamworth Regional Council has been contracted by Roads and Maritime Services to undertake construction for the $6 million project, but first some early works need to be done.

These include the widening of Brewery Lane, construction of a new stormwater drainage system in the road reserve adjacent to The Square Man Inn Restaurant and the removal of guard rails and the installation of new pavement adjacent to Chaoyang Park to allow construction traffic to exit the work area safely.

Tamworth Region Mayor Col Murray said this important stage of the Manilla Road Upgrade has been highly anticipated but it will also be a challenging construction task because of the high volume of vehicles which travel through the location.

“There is about 14,000 vehicles each day which pass through the intersection of Jewry and Peel Street and as a result, there will be some unavoidable disruptions to traffic for about six months while the existing two roundabouts come out, traffic lights go in and travel lanes to the second Jewry Street Bridge are constructed,” he said.

“It’s a huge job and we are asking drivers to be patient when changes to traffic conditions are put in place to allow the work to be done.

“We hope they can be understanding while there will be some traffic delays and challenges for a few months, in the end we will have the biggest single improvement to traffic flows for Tamworth’s road network in almost 50 years.”

Cr Murray said the intersection has been a traffic pinch-point for many years and the construction of a second Jewry Street Bridge (funded by the Australian Government) along with the final stage of the Manilla Road Upgrade is the solution.

“The increased traffic capacity which will result from these two projects is what we need to cater for the growing traffic volumes related to ongoing residential development in the Hills Plain area and growth of the Taminda Industrial Area,” he said. 

At community information sessions held near shops adjacent to the Jewry and Peel Street intersections in December last year, it was explained that Brewery Lane will become the main entry and exit point to the carpark used by shoppers. Work started on widening the laneway on Wednesday last week (13 March, 2019) and should be completed next week.

The guard rail works on Peel Street have already been completed while the stormwater drainage work is scheduled to start on Monday 25 March, 2019. 

Changes to traffic conditions will not be introduced until the works on the intersection itself start next month. More details information will be made available when the dates are confirmed.

In the meantime, construction of the second Jewry Street Bridge is on schedule with large girders to be craned into place across the Peel River later this week. The construction will be completed at about the same time when the intersection work is finished in August this year.