Building a better Yamba Road
Published on 13 April 2026
Whenever the Clarence River tops its banks, phone lines and Facebook pages come alive with the callout: “is Yamba Road open?” Millions of dollars are being invested to improve the likelihood of the answer being “yes”, and to make Yamba Road safer for a wide range of users now and into the future.
A $10 million upgrade of the Yamba Road South Bank Road intersection is underway as part of ongoing work to improve the road from Maclean to Yamba.
The 900-metre section of road is being reconstructed to be one metre higher to make it less likely to flood and widened from approximately eight metres to 12 metres to make it safer for high traffic volumes. The upgraded road includes widened shoulders to provide space for cyclists.
The turnoff to South Bank Road is also being made safer with widening of the intersection, increased shoulder widths to provide room for vehicles to pull over, and addition of a right turn lane into South Bank Road.
Communications and electricity infrastructure along the section of road were relocated to enable the widening works. In January and February, approximately 600 metres of new underground fibre optic and copper cabling was installed 10 metres south of the former location, providing internet, landline phone and mobile phone services. In February and March, powerlines were relocated including installation of eight new power poles.
The project has also included replacement and relocation of approximately one kilometre of ageing water mains in February and March. The new HighDensity Polyethylene (HDPE) pipe replaced the old asbestos-concrete line, installed further from the road to prevent potential damage during future connections to the main.
The next step of the intersection upgrade project will be the creation of cycle bridges either side of the Palmers Channel bridge. Construction of the 75-metre long, 1.5-metre-wide cantilever bridges is scheduled to commence in July and will take several months to complete.
The Yamba Road South Bank Road intersection upgrade was delivered through the Regional Roads and Transport Recovery Package (RRTRP) jointly funded under the Commonwealth – State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
The South Bank Road intersection works followed completion in late 2025 of a $6 million upgrade to raise and widen Yamba Road from Romiaka Channel to Oyster Bridge.
A $10 million bypass of Palmers Island is scheduled to commence in the new financial year. The one-kilometre road from Middle Road to Romiaka Channel will be built to the same specifications as the upgraded sections already completed and will include a cycle lane and shared path connection between Romiaka Bridge and Palmers Island village.
PICTURED: Yamba Road is raised and widened at the intersection with South Bank Road.