For residents living anywhere around Black Hill up to Raymond Terrace, setting foot on the soon-to-be fix to their traffic woes felt like a dream come true.
On Sunday, August 16, Hunter locals walked a 3.5-kilometre stretch of M1 to Raymond Terrace extension, including the newly completed viaduct over the Hunter River.
Running more than a year ahead of schedule, the 15-kilometre motorway was expected to open to traffic in the coming months, a spokesperson for Transport for NSW said.
David Long travelled from Nelson Bay to Tomago to walk the bridge with his 11-year-old grandson.
"It is pretty awesome, we've needed this for a long time and at least we've got it in my lifetime," Mr Long said.
Like many Port Stephens residents, Mr Long was hoping the project would alleviate intense Christmas traffic.
Don Whatham has lived in the Hunter his whole life and in Port Stephens for the past 35 years, and he said he was hoping it would cut out major bottlenecks.
"It has been a long time coming, we've been waiting and waiting," he said.
Thornton residents Shireen and James Bennett brought their two children on the Sunday morning walk to see a different perspective of the road.
"It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, they are not going to close it again to be able to do something like this," Ms Bennett said.
Siblings Havana and Rylan Perkins raced across the walk's finish line, saying they thought the day out was a lot of fun.
Their mother, Alexandra Perkins, said she wanted her children to get to experience and appreciate the new road.
"I work in the Beresfield area and I've watched it from start to almost completion. I think it is going to shave a lot of time off the morning and afternoon commute," Ms Perkins said.
Woodberry locals Mel Mitrevski and Finbah Neil were hoping the major works would get rid of local congestion and "hellish" peak-hour traffic around Thornton.
"I think having the community day is such a really interesting way to expose people to it and get people on board," Ms Mitrevski said.
Mr Neil said the completed Hexham upgrades had already alleviated dense afternoon traffic.
Planning for the $2.24 billion project began in 2004 and major construction started in 2023.
It was funded by $1.79 billion from the federal government and $448 million from the state government and was initially anticipated to be open to traffic in 2028.
The project included four new interchanges at Black Hill, Tarro, Tomago and Raymond Terrace, as well as new bridge crossings over local waterways at Tarro and Raymond Terrace and an overpass for Masonite Road at Heatherbrae.
Earlier this year, the Hexham Straight widening project and the Heatherbrae bypass as well as works on the northern section of the roads were completed.
The project was expected to remove up to 25,000 vehicles a day from local roads and save motorists up to nine minutes during peak periods.
A spokesperson for Transport for NSW said the motorway extension will improve road safety, significantly ease notorious bottlenecks and support tourism and freight operations across the Hunter.
Once the motorway is open contractors will continue with landscaping maintenance for two years on the southern section and one year on the northern section.
Works to improve the surrounding road network will continue after the motorway opens including at Old Punt Road, Tomago Road, Pacific Highway and the New England Highway/Maitland Road.
