Singleton Bypass

At eight kilometres long, Singleton Bypass is one of the largest infrastructure investments in the township’s history—a major road upgrade set to greatly improve the Upper Hunter region’s road safety and commuter experience. It achieves this through a solution which allows traffic to bypass five sets of lights in the Singleton CBD, diverting heavy freight and industry transport away from the regional CBD.

Located on the New England Highway, the current road is a major freight and commuter route, passing through Singleton on the main road through the town. The route is pivotal to the freight of local goods across Australia and abroad, connecting to the major centres of Newcastle and Sydney. As a result, and in conjunction with mining activities in the region, the road accommodates a high volume of oversize overmass vehicles and trucks daily.

Guided by agreed urban design principles, the project enhances road safety and traffic flows through a series of interventions. Strategic landscaping and bridge structures form landmarks along the road and at the four major gateways—Southern Connection, Putty Road, Gowrie Gates and the Northern Connection—ensuring clarity for travellers and framing key views.

DesignInc provided integrated urban and landscape design for the project, collaborating with ACCIONA (Contractor), Aurecon (Engineering Design), and Nguluway DesignInc (Designing from Country, First Nations Community Engagement) for Transport for NSW. The project is currently under construction and due for completion late 2026.

Location: Wonnarua Country
Singleton,
Client: Acciona Construction Australia
Value: $700M
Collaborators: Nguluway DesignInc, Saretta Fielding
Project Contact: Megan Walker and Miriam Enoch
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Collaborative Design Engineering

Close consultation with engineers’ Aurecon ensured a seamless, six-bridge solution traversing the Hunter River, its flood plains and key ecological zones.

Bridges amount to almost 2.6km, including:

600m over the bypass at the Southern Connection
1.64km over Main North Railway Line, Doughboy Hollow and Hunter River floodplain, Army Camp Road and Putty Road
99m over Rose Point Floodway
190m over Hunter River (Mayan)
33m over New England Highway at Gowrie Gates
37m over the bypass at the Northern Connection

A Voice for First Nations Communities

Facilitated by Nguluway DesignInc, community engagement with the local First Nations community resulted three iconic Indigenous artworks to enhance the travel experience.

The artworks facilitated by artist Saretta Fielding in consultation with the local knowledge holders represent the land of the Wonnarua/Wanaruah People in the Singleton area, paying respect to important landscape landmarks including the Mayan (Hunter River), whose wetlands and waters have provided vital resources for countless generations. Knowledge holders spoke of the Singleton area as a central location from which pathways connected people in all directions, reflecting their cultural association with the area and its resulting centrality in their world view.

Landscape as a Navigational Tool

Landscape not only plays a pivotal role in creating intuitive navigation as gateways connecting into townships and local communities but also is a wayfinding tool which creates a sense of arrival. Landscape design at each of the connections is place-specific, responding to the local topography, soil and vegetation communities, providing a consistent, linear identity for the overall route experience.

Landscaping frames the four key connections (south-north)

Southern Connection
Putty Road
Gowrie Gates, and
Northern Connection.

Landscape is also central to protecting and enhancing the region’s environmental value, specifically its biodiversity. A revegetation strategy of the corridor includes landscape treatments such as hydro-mulching or other seeding methods, and plantings catering to local ecology.