After a day of heavy traffic on the Kings and Princes Highways on December 27, motorists are experiencing an easier run on the morning of December 28.
Holiday season traffic flow has also been helped since December 21 after an agreement was reached not to lift the Batemans Bay bridge during the day until Monday, January 8.
A Roads and Maritime (RMS) spokesperson said the bridge would remain closed to taller vessels between 8am and 6pm.
The bridge would be lifted at night only during the period from Thursday, December 21 to Sunday, January 7.
“During the peak holiday traffic period there will be no bridge lifts carried out during the day from 8am to 6pm to allow traffic to flow across the bridge,” an RMS spokesperson said.
“Marine vessels will have reduced access to the Clyde River under Batemans Bay Bridge during the peak holiday traffic period.
“To allow holiday traffic to travel along the Princes Highway, bridge span lifts will only be carried out at night on request between 6pm and 8am from Thursday 21 December until Sunday 7 January.
“Batemans Bay Bridge lift span will not be operating in the daytime between 8am and 6pm during this period.
“Daytime bridge lift operations will resume from Monday 8 January. We will continue to monitor traffic levels when carrying out bridge lift span operations until the end of the summer holiday period.
“To request a bridge lift between 6pm and 8am during this period please contact the bridge operator on 4472 7263.
”We apologise for the inconvenience and thank the community for their patience during the holiday period.”
Meanwhile, the Innes Boatshed/Merinda Cruises said the decision had been reached “in consultation with Roads and Maritime Services”.
“We have voluntarily agreed to suspend operations of our ferry trip to Nelligen from 21st of December through till 8th of January,” a spokeswoman said.
“We hope that this will help alleviate some of the stress and worry over a possible bridge issue in this our busiest time of the year.
“We will however be conducting a harbour lunch cruise for 1.5 hours with live music on board to hopefully make up some shortfall and stop any negative aspects of not operating.”
Several breakdowns of the bridge lifting mechanism have caused traffic chaos in the past, including on October 8, 2016, as holidaymakers returned home from the school holidays.
