Australia has announced an additional A$282.3m ($267.7m) funding to complete the necessary planning and pre-construction work along the Pacific Highway‘s 155km-long Woolgoolga to Ballina section in the New South Wales (NSW).

Expected to create 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, the new funding will be used for surveying and terrain modeling the route, as well as for treating soft soil sites at Harwood, south of Woodburn, north of Broadwater and between Tyndale and Maclean.

The funding will also be used to proceed with the detailed planning work, complete the necessary land acquisitions and gain the necessary environmental clearances.

The new funding will also be used to duplicate a 2km section of the Pacific Highway connecting to the southern end of the new Ballina Bypass, and to build new bridges over Duck and Emigrant creeks.

"The new funding will be used for surveying and terrain modeling the route, as well as for treating soft soil sites at Harwood, south of Woodburn, north of Broadwater and between Tyndale and Maclean."

The NSW government has agreed to match the federal contribution to this package of works, taking the total investment amount available to A$564.6m ($535.6m).

Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said that the package of preparatory works had been accelerated in order to get construction workers and their equipment onsite to upgrade the section of the highway as soon as possible.

"Once underway, this multi-billion project will re-route the highway to the east of Grafton, build ten major interchanges, erect new bridges across the Clarence and Richmond rivers as well as install strategically located wildlife crossings," Albanese said.

"Already we’ve committed our share of the funding required to get the job done, an unprecedented $7.9 billion, and over the next twelve months alone, work will begin and continue along more than 165km of this vital road," the minister added.