At its Ordinary Meeting on Monday 31 March 2025, Penrith City Council endorsed a revised scope for the Coreen Avenue Intersection Upgrades and accepted funding from Transport for NSW, on behalf of the Australian Government, to deliver the project.

This project will reduce congestion, improve safety and enhance the flow of traffic through intersections on Coreen Avenue, particularly during peak periods, while also ensuring the road can accommodate future traffic growth. Coreen Avenue is a critical east-west link, and its safety and efficiency, both presently and as our City grows, is the objective of this project.

Under the revised scope, four intersections will be upgraded instead of the six originally proposed in the draft design. This decision was guided by community feedback, site investigations, updated traffic modelling and the available budget

Upgrades will proceed at the following intersections:

• Coreen Avenue/Coombes Drive (west)
• Coreen Avenue/Combewood Avenue
• Coreen Avenue/Coombes Drive (east)
• Coreen Avenue / Lemongrove Road

As an ancillary project, the intersection of Coombes Drive and Hickeys Road will also have minor upgrades.

Council has worked extensively to address the concerns raised by the community during consultation on the draft design and has made significant modifications to enhance safety and improve access for businesses.

However, despite thorough investigations and ongoing efforts by Council to explore alternative solutions, some of the concerns raised by the community could not be fully resolved. The introduction of traffic signals at Coombes Drive (west) was a fundamental element, and to provide this facility has required changes to the access at Combewood; these changes are unavoidable given the proximity of the two intersections.

This will result in changes to the way residents, businesses and commuters access Thornton, and further modelling is being undertaken to understand this further and identify further improvements where possible to minimise impacts.

The next step in this project is the public exhibition of the Review of Environmental Factors (REF) in mid-2025. Following the public exhibition of the REF, the construction tender will be released. Construction is expected to commence in 2026.