One of the Hunter's most desperately needed road projects will open to traffic in the early hours of Friday, finally bypassing a bottleneck that has snarled the region for generations.
The Hexam-Heatherbrae bottleneck has been declared "gone for good" as the $2.24 billion M1 Pacific Motorway extension between Black Hill and Raymond Terrace welcomes rolling tyres in less than 48 hours.
