Roads information
State, Regional or Local Road?
Cessnock City Council is the road authority for State, Regional and Local roads within the Cessnock Local Government Area (LGA).
Map of State & Regional Roads
Council maintains State Roads on behalf of Transport for NSW (TfNSW).
Regional and Local roads are maintained by Council through general funds and RMS block grants.
State Roads
State roads are owned and operated by Transport for NSW. State roads in our LGA include:
- M15 - Hunter Expressway (RMS maintained)
- HW9 - New England Highway (RMS maintained)
- MR195 - Mulbring to Maitland (via Kurri Kurri) from the intersection of Lake Road, Elrington; through to Kurri Kurri; through to Heddon Greta boundary.
- MR220 - Wine Country Drive from Branxton through Cessnock; to the Freemans Waterhole boundary.
- MR588 - Cessnock to Beresfield (via Kurri Kurri) from Maitland Road, Cessnock through to Kurri Kurri; onto John Renshaw; through to the Newcastle boundary.
Regional Roads
Regional Roads are maintained by Council through general funds and block grants from Transport for NSW under the Block Grant Agreement.
- MR 181 – Wollombi Road from Allandale Road intersection through Bellbird, Millfield, Wollombi, Laguna to Settlers Road, Bucketty.
- MR 590 – George Downes Drive from Settlers Road, Bucketty to the Gosford boundary.
- MR 453 - Elderslie Road from the New England Highway to the Singleton boundary.
- MR 7767 - Broke Road from Wine Country Drive, Cessnock to the Singleton boundary.
- Lovedale Road, Lovedale
- Buchanan Road, Buchanan
Local Roads
Local roads handle local traffic. They are the neighbourhood street system, primarily used to access property. They usually have the lowest speed limit and carry lower volumes of traffic. These roads are owned and operated by Council, including residential streets and country roads.
Cessnock Local Traffic Committee
Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has delegated installation of certain traffic control devices on Regional and Local roads to the Councils of NSW. Matters relating to state roads or functions that have not been delegated to Council’s must be referred directly to the TfNSW.
To exercise its delegation, Council is required to have a Local Traffic Committee and to refer relevant traffic control matters to the Committee. Rather than having decision making powers, the Committee is primarily a technical review committee. It advises Council on matters for which the Council has delegated authority to make decisions on, such as parking and traffic management.
The Committee, chaired by a Councillor, is made of local representatives including Police, transport providers, TfNSW as well as the State Member.
The Committee considers reports investigated and prepared by Council Officers and makes recommendations to Council on the installation of regulatory traffic control devices on Regional and Local roads that are enforceable by NSW Police.
The Committee has no powers or delegation to act on illegal driver behaviour or non-compliance with road rules such as speeding, hooning or use of unregistered vehicles. These matters should be reported directly to NSW Police.
Crown Roads
Crown roads are owned by Crown Land and include rural roads in remote areas.
Private Roads
Private roads are those which exist on private property. Private property owners are responsible for the maintenance of private roads which run through their property.
Report a road issue
Traffic concerns for RMS maintained roads may be provided to RMS.
Phone: 131 782 or (02) 4924 0240
Online: www.rms.nsw.gov.au/contact-us
Traffic signals
Council is not responsible for traffic signals, including their installation or operation.
Please contact RMS directly.
Street lighting
You can report a damaged or faulty street light on the Ausgrid website , and find out if the issue has already been reported or when repairs are likely to take place.
You can report an inadequate amount of lighting on your street or glare issues to Council. We will investigate your request and contact Ausgrid if we determine that works are required.
Traffic concerns, comments or other matters on Regional or Local Roads may be provided to Council. Report a local road issue via Council's online request system or call our Customer Service Team on 4993 4100.
Speeding, hooning and dangerous driving must be reported to the NSW Police.
Dial 000 for emergencies.
Road maintenance program
The LGA is divided into two major maintenance regions; North and South, incorporating six sub-areas.
In order to maintain our roads, a works program of scheduled maintenance is prepared for each sub-area to occur monthly. The schedule is based on information gathered in the course of carrying out inspections and feedback from customer requests.
Dedicated maintenance crews will also be allocated to each region to undertake ongoing reactive/urgent/unplanned and planned maintenance.
The program is subject to weather conditions and extreme events requiring reallocation of resources on a priority basis. This may result in some limited service those sub-areas in that time-allocation.
Schedule of programmed maintenance
North Area Maintenance Schedule
North Area 1 - July and January
North Area 2 - August and February
North Area 3 - September and March
North Area 4 - October and April
North Area 5 - November and May
North Area 6 - December and June
South Area Maintenance Schedule
South Area 1 - July and January
South Area 2 - August and February
South Area 3 - September and March
South Area 4 - October and April
South Area 5 - November and May
South Area 6 - December and June
Unsealed Road Maintenance Schedule
Unsealed roads fact sheet
Naming or re-naming of roads
Road naming authorities must adhere to the procedure outlined in the NSW Road Regulation 2018 when naming a public or private road.
The Geographical Names Board of NSW recommends that individuals or organisations naming roads comply with the Guidelines for the Naming of Roads.
Once a name is chosen, you must notify Council by filling an Application for Naming or Re-Naming of a Public Road Application Form(PDF, 202KB) (fees apply).