Motorists travelling on the Great Western Highway over the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends are urged to plan their trips and allow extra travel time, with high traffic volumes and delays expected.
The Great Western Highway has several known pinch points for travel connecting the Greater Sydney area with the Central West.
Historical traffic data shows the busiest day for westbound travel towards Lithgow will be Friday 18 April and Saturday 19 April, and for those heading east towards Greater Sydney the busiest day will be at the end of the long weekend on Monday 21 April.
Delays are also expected on Friday 25 April (Anzac Day) for motorists travelling across the Blue Mountains, with significant traffic volumes also anticipated eastbound on Sunday 27 April as holiday makers return to Sydney.
The Govetts Leap Road intersection at Blackheath can be a pinch point where there are often queues for motorists heading east. Traffic queueing also often extends west from Blackheath to Hartley and beyond.
When queueing begins eastbound at Mount Victoria, a traffic management plan is put in place with motorists held at Hartley to prevent further congestion and a start/stop movement up Victoria Pass. Vehicles are then released in small groups, allowing them to travel up the Pass to prevent further delays in the event of breakdowns and to avoid nose-to-tail crashes.
For more details about predicted delays on the Great Western Highway see the NSW Holiday and Journey planning website. For information, visit https://www.livetraffic.com/incident-details/230828, or download the Live Traffic NSW app.