NRMA releases Rate Your Road survey for Newcastle and the Hunter
MONDAY 18th March 2019: The New England Highway has received the most number of votes in the Newcastle and Hunter region, through the NRMA’s Rate Your Road survey, the largest transport survey in the state’s history.
The NRMA has today released the local results of the comprehensive survey which saw almost 10,000 roads receive votes from 23,400 people across the state. The Rate Your Road survey was launched by the NRMA in January to give voters a voice leading up to the 23 March NSW Election.
Roads in the Newcastle and Hunter regions received 2,191 votes.
Participants were asked to rate their road on a scale of very poor to excellent (rating out of 100) based on congestion, condition and safety. Voters also rated local public transport services.
The top five road locations across the region to receive the most number of votes were:
| Rank | Location | Votes | Reason | Rating |
| 1 | New England Highway | 209 | Congested | 43/100 |
| 2 | Nelson Bay Road | 131 | Congested | 48/100 |
| 3 | Pacific Highway at Hexham | 46 | Congested | 33/100 |
| 4 | Newcastle Road | 35 | Congested | 53/100 |
| 5 | Dowling Street at Dungog | 31 | Condition | 49/100 |
Local areas to incur the most votes were:
- Lake Macquarie (493)
- Newcastle (408)
- Port Stephens (386)
- Cessnock (301)
- Maitland (194)
In addition, the roads and highways across the state to receive the most number of overall votes were:
| Rank | Road | Votes | Rating out of 100 |
| 1 | Pacific Highway | 1,092 | 50 |
| 2 | Princes Highway | 720 | 49 |
| 3 | Parramatta Road | 668 | 45 |
| 4 | M5 Motorway | 527 | 50 |
| 5 | Pennant Hills Road | 518 | 46 |
NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury thanked the Newcastle and Hunter communities for their overwhelming response to the NRMA’s Rate Your Road campaign, and said the data would be critical as the NRMA worked to improve the region’s transport network.
“To have mobilised more than 2,000 people from around the Newcastle and Hunter regions for the NRMA’s state election campaign is very humbling, and our commitment to the community is that their participation will not go to waste,” Mr Khoury said.
“With just under two weeks until voting day and a Federal Election in the coming months this data will be invaluable.”
Mr Khoury said the message from this survey to policymakers from all levels of Government was simple – as long as our cities and towns continue to grow, so too must our commitment to visionary policies around roads and public transport.
“These survey results are telling. Across the region, motorists have called out congestion as their number one concern. I’m pleased to see the New England highway safety upgrade currently underway is working, with less drivers concerned about safety and condition of the road,” Mr Khoury said.
“Where money is spent we see improvements, so I’m pleased to see both sides of politics pledging billions of dollars to our roads in the lead up to the election.”
