In what is turning into holiday hell, northbound travellers on the Pacific Highway can expect to wait the length of a feature film in a traffic jam at Woodburn today.

The last girder has been installed on a new bridge over the Richmond River at Broadwater, part of the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade. But don't get excited about driving over it any time soon.

Labor candidate for Ballina, Asren Pugh, has welcomed news subbies working on the Pacific Highway upgrade affected by the collapse of Oswald Bros will finally be paid. But he questions why the government took so long to step in.

Residents of the once-sleepy area of Meerschaum Vale never expected noisy freeway construction within earshot of their homes, let alone suffering extra ongoing noise from the road that other nearby residents will miss out on.

Federal Page MP Kevin Hogan says a new service road will give traffic a safe and efficient bypass of the Pacific Highway upgrade works between Woodburn and Broadwater for the next two years.

An animal activist has accused two National Party MPs of ‘misleading the public’ over claims the RMS has revegetated more than a hundred hectares of land along the Pacific Highway Ballina upgrade route with tens of thousands of koala feed trees.

Ballina Greens MP Tamara Smith will meet with residents affected by noise, dust and vibration coming from the Pacific Highway upgrade at Meerschaum Vale later today.

The Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade is a disaster waiting to happen. A major bushfire of over 300 hectares two weeks ago has left important areas of koala and long-nosed potoroo habitat burned to the ground, writes Sue Arnold.

With the Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade poised to begin operations, scientists, community organisations, and environmental groups are horrified by the devices put in place by the RMS to change wildlife behaviour.

Look left, look right, look left again - watch out for the barbed wire. Emus making regular use of crossing points provided by the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway upgrade.