ANY early controversies over the Hunter Expressway are now more or less forgotten, with the project, finished in 2014 at a stated cost of $1.7 billion, more than proving its worth.
Now, with an estimated 26,000 vehicles a day - including 3700 trucks - passing through the single-lane centre of Singleton, residents say the $700-million bypass of the town is well and truly overdue.
But as the Newcastle Herald has reported this week, complaints by a handful of mainly rural landowners have cast a harsh light on the way the NSW government has negotiated with those whose properties it has moved to acquire by compulsory means.
Singleton Council, as one of those landholders, says the government offer for a site it needs at Glenridding on the town's western outskirts is about a tenth of the cost it will entail to replace that depot.
The affected farmers and the council all want to see the bypass built. They know what changes the expressway has brought, and they realise the importance of the bypass, even if they also believe it should be two lanes in either direction rather than one, and say it should start further south, on the Golden Highway, rather than on what even Transport for NSW acknowledges is a flood plain at Whittingham.
The state government says it has already acquired most of the 36 properties it needs. It would be a mistake, however, to see those still holding out as being greedy.
On the information they have supplied to the state Labor opposition - which is supporting them - and to the Herald, there is no doubt they will end up out of pocket.
Additionally, a Legislative Council report tabled in August this year - Acquisition of land in relation to major transport projects - speaks of an acquisition process that is "out of touch" both with public expectation and the original intention of the legislation.
The Perrottet government responded to the inquiry last month, accepting some of its findings in full, and others in principle.
Obviously, it will take time to see if the government agencies responsible for negotiating on land acquisition change in style or substance. This does not mean the government being a "soft touch".
But land acquisition in the Singleton bypass is surely a minimal part of its $700 million cost. What price the goodwill the government loses by playing "hardball"?
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