Welcome to the Pacific Highway Sapphire to Woolgoolga upgrade website. This project is jointly funded by the NSW and Australian governments.

The Coffs Harbour Highway Planning Strategy was developed to address the need to upgrade the Pacific Highway between Sapphire and Woolgoolga while planning for the future traffic needs within the Coffs Harbour area.

The preferred route for the Coffs Harbour Highway Planning Strategy was announced in December 2004.

The Sapphire to Woolgoolga project extends approximately 25 km from Campbell Close, Sapphire, to Arrawarra Beach Road, Arrawarra.

The RTA commissioned Connell Wagner (environmental and engineering consultants) to assist the RTA in the project development, including:

• Generation of route options.
• Evaluation of route options and the preferred route.
• Design of the project.
• Environmental assessment.
• Community consultation.

The Sapphire to Woolgoolga environmental assessment was on display for community comment from Wednesday 5 December 2007 until Friday 15 February 2008. Following the display of the environmental assessment and concept design, the RTA considered community submissions received and prepared a submissions report in response to the issues raised. The submissions report was lodged with the NSW Department of Planning on Monday 14 July 2008.

The NSW Minister for Planning approved the Pacific Highway Sapphire to Woolgoolga upgrade on 13 January 2009. The Chief Executive of the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) subsequently agreed to proceed with the construction and operation of the project subject to the conditions set by the Minister for Planning, the RTA's project priorities for upgrading the Pacific Highway and available funding.

To view the planning approval documents, go to the public information page on this website. Further information is available in the February 2009 progress update.

This website provides information on the development of the Sapphire to Woolgoolga upgrade and the Coffs Harbour Highway Planning Strategy as a whole. For information on the Coffs Harbour bypass, please visit the Coffs Harbour bypass website.