THE winning tender for the design of the Glendale interchange was awarded at last week's Lake Macquarie City Council meeting.
The $1.5 million tender awarded to Sydney company SMEC will go towards the design, environmental and construction documentation for stage one of the interchange, which involves roadworks and a Pennant Street bridge.
The council said work undertaken would set the course for major road works that would eventually connect, in a three-way intersection, an extended Main Road at Glendale, an extended Stockland Drive at Glendale and an extended Pennant Street at Cardiff.
The interchange aims to provide a faster route to the Hunter Sports Centre and improve access to Stockland Glendale, as well as provide better public transport infrastructure and reduce traffic congestion.
At last week's council meeting, councillors asked council staff about any possible cost blowouts.
Lake Macquarie City Council city strategy director Tony Farrell replied that the tender amount was not likely to be the total cost amount and there were unknown cost factors.
He said he expected the state to pick up the rest of the bill.
A council spokesperson said the cost of the works provided by all of the tenders was expected to increase massively, perhaps 100 per cent.
This was due to the complex nature and staging of design works, latent site conditions, such as the geological aspects and road alignment.
"Depending on the requirements of the funding bodies, the NSW government is likely to be the main funder of the design component, however, this will not be known until the project progresses," the spokesperson said.
"The additional outlined costs as part of the design component are within the original allocated budget."
Works on the Glendale interchange are expected to start midway through this year.
