Upper Hunter Shire Council pleading for up to $30 million in additional funding for delayed Merriwa to Willow Tree Road upgrade

Coulsons Creek Road closed to traffic over a year ago after a series of dangerous tension cracks became major landslips, adding an extra half an hour of travel time between Merriwa and the Liverpool Plains.

A community meeting was held on Thursday night in Merriwa where residents heard from staff and engineers.

UHSC mayor Maurice Collison told the Leader tenders will soon be called to fix the road, which will take up to two years to complete.

"It's probably a month behind where we wanted it to be with the final designs, but we're very close now to being able to go out to tender and getting this road on the way," he said.

"We're saying it will take two years so no one is disappointed - but we're hoping to get it done quicker than that.

"But of course there are a lot of things in play - weather being the main thing."

A jointly-funded $12.2 million reconstruction of the road was completed in 2019, but it failed to meet specifications.

Wet weather has since wreaked havoc on the mountain passage which connects the Upper Hunter to the New England region, and it's now expected to cost an additional $25 to $30 million to fix up.

"That's the figure at the moment, until the final designs are done," Cr Collison said.

UHSC will apply for funding once those designs are completed, and will be knocking on state and federal doors.

"The politicians have been very good, both federal and state, but they made it very clear we need the final designs and final costings on the table before we can go and actually get some help to fix this road," Cr Collison said.

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"We've already been working very close with Barnaby Joyce and Dave Layzell and a lot of the hard work is done.

"It's no guarantee, but definitely we'll be hoping to get some sort of a guarantee on funding."

The "massive amount of wet weather" has made the project extremely hard for everyone on the ground, the mayor said.

"It's been a very, very wet season up in that country," he said.

"It's very hard, people have to be on the ground, we've got machines there already starting to move soil out. It's very important that this time, this is done properly."

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