In preparation for the start of work on the new Kempsey Bypass, construction companies with expertise in bridge building are being encouraged to register under an ‘expressions of interest’ process being managed by the RTA.

The company ultimately selected will partner with the RTA to design and build new bridges over the Macleay River and the nearby floodplain.

Registrations open today and close on Wednesday, 24 March.

At the conclusion of the registration period, a shortlist of applicants will be invited to submit tenders, with a preferred builder expected to be selected shortly thereafter.

The Kempsey Bypass is what the Rudd Labor Government’s Nation Building Program is all about. It will put 450 Australians to work building the road infrastructure vital to our long term economic prosperity.

As well as the new bridges, the project will lay 14.5 kilometres of dual carriageway to the east of Kempsey and Frederickton as well as construct two new interchanges.

The contract for these other aspects of the bypass was awarded in November to a consortium consisting of Leighton Contractors, AECOM and Coffey Geotechnics.

Major road works will start within months, with the erection of bridges due to begin by the middle of next year.

Once completed in mid-2014, this new section of the Pacific Highway will deliver safer driving conditions, cut travel times and take up to 2,000 trucks a day off the local streets of Kempsey.

The existing Highway will be retained as a local road.

For more information, visit the RTA’s website at: www.rta.nsw.gov.au/pacific.