“We have the Batemans Bay link road, which the NSW government has funded – it’s a $10 million investment – the project is coming to a close in terms of our construction effort,” he said.

“RMS now have to join the road to the highway and provide an intersection.

“Whilst this is all going on we’ve had 10 injury crashes, including a fatality, between Cranbrook Road and the start of that road.

“We’ve got a lock gate here now, at the end of the link road; we do not want to let traffic through to this section of highway, because if we do, the crash rate at that intersection will be too high.”

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The link road – which has been more than a decade in the planning – would connect the Surf Beach bypass to the Princes Highway, reducing pressure on Beach Road.

Mr Sharpe has been calling on RMS to realign the highway south of Batemans Bay since 2015.

“We’ve got $800 million of development hanging off this, as well as a horrible accident record. There’s a strong economic reason for doing that work, and we feel we’ve waited long enough, and it’s time for them to take some action.”

“When you look at the Princes Highway, that four-kilometre section really stands out. And I think most people in our community would say it’s time they did that section of the highway properly.”

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