A decade after the original funding announcement, the completed 6km dual carriageway between Wrights Road and the Pacific Highway will ease traffic entering and leaving Port Macquarie to and from the west and south of the town via the “doughnut” interchange.

State member, Nationals MP Leslie Williams, said tomorrow’s opening by Andrew Stoner and the roads minister, Duncan Gay, would herald a great improvement for the Hastings.

“This is a project which has been a long time coming and to see it finally ready to take traffic is a great win for our community,” she said.

“The project will deliver major benefits to the community through reduced travel times and a reduction of accidents.”

Mrs Williams said the NSW government had funded the upgrade to the tune of $115 million, while her federal counterpart Robert Oakeshott said the funding amounted to $158 million – a figure backed up on the Roads and Maritime Services website.

Mr Oakeshott, who was Port Macquarie MP in 2002 when the funding was announced, acknowledged the efforts of his immediate successor, fellow independent Peter Besseling, in securing a second round of funding to complete the Wrights Road section and then the full corridor from Wrights Road to the Pacific Highway.

Mr Oakeshott said it had been a hard fight to secure the original corridor and he was pleased to see the road upgrade completed and ready to open.

“The Oxley Highway is a piece of critical infrastructure for our valley,” he said, “one that 9000 motorists a day will benefit from.”

The federal member for Lyne said the road would improve traffic flow between Port Macquarie and Wauchope and would deliver a more efficient road network.

“It also will allow for sensible growth to the west of Port Macquarie,” Mr Oakeshott said.

The upgrade had been scheduled for completion by December last year, two years after preliminary work began, but poor weather conditions and construction setbacks delayed this into the new year.

Recently, the project provoked controversy when Coffs Harbour state member Andrew Fraser and Mr Gay accused the federal government of diverting funds from the proposed Pacific Highway upgrade at Urunga to appease Mr Oakeshott.

This was fiercely denied by both Mr Oakeshott and the federal minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese.