Byron Shire Council has awarded the contract for the construction of the Byron Bay bypass. The decision to award a $14 million contract for the project to Hazell Bros was made at the May Council meeting (23 May 2019).
The total cost of the bypass is $24 million which is funded via $10.5 million from the RMS, a $9.5 million NSW Government Growing Local Economies grant and $4 million from Council.
Byron Shire Mayor, Simon Richardson, said the bypass is a vital piece of infrastructure for the town of Byron Bay and, when finished, will give locals a better option to get around town.
"One of the primary objectives of the Byron Bay Town Centre Masterplan is to make the town centre more pedestrian friendly – reclaiming it for people and this bypass is a major step towards that.
"On average there are 20,000 cars a day on Ewingsdale Road, many of them going in and out of Byron Bay," Mayor Richardson said.
"This is a council-driven project to ultimately provide one of the solutions to the traffic jams entering and exiting Jonson St," he said.
"We recognise that the bypass will not solve all of Byron Bay's traffic problems, especially on Ewingsdale Road, but it will take traffic out of the CBD and allow tradies, residents and people who might just want to drop their kids at school or pick them up, to be able to do that without going through congested town streets," he said.
"We have a responsibility to assist how our town moves," Mayor Richardson said.
Council staff are now finalising the relevant details of the contract with construction expected to start in July 2019. Council will shortly start communicating with residents, community organisations and businesses who will be impacted by the construction of the bypass, providing details about the project, the construction timeline and other important issues.
"During the construction phase we will have key staff working out of an office in the CBD so they can respond quickly and directly to any community concerns," Mayor Richardson said.
The bypass will take up to 18 months to complete and it's anticipated it will be open in December 2020.
Though it was emphatically explained by Council's expert consultant that no species will become more threatened by this process, the construction of the bypass will still have an impact on approximately 1.5 hectares of wetland.
To compensate for this, through Biobanking, Council has two approved Biobanking Agreements to do environmental restoration work on 44 hectares of nearby wetland that is currently managed by Council.
"Whilst this is a good outcome locally, Council staff are also looking at going above and beyond this requirement," Mayor Richardson said.
"There was unanimous support for my Mayoral Minute for a report from staff to identify areas of degraded wetland near the bypass and what the cost would be to do some restoration work.
"Staff will also look at funding sources and potential partners and I am really looking forward to seeing this report because if Council can do additional environmental improvements, above and beyond what we are required to do is a great outcome for our community," Mayor Richardson said.
