The Yass Valley mayor has called on New South Wales Roads Minister Duncan Gay to release an overdue study into the staged duplication of the Barton Highway.

In 2013-14, the NSW and federal governments each committed $150,000 to fund the study by NSW Roads and Maritime Services.

Mayor Rowena Abbey said the study was due to be released last December.

“We haven’t got it yet. We look forward to that,” she said.

“It should be a document that actually steps out a staged, eventual duplication of the Barton Highway and identifying high areas to immediately do some improvements in traffic flows and risk management.”

Ms Abbey said the valley’s population was growing at an average annual rate of 2.5 per cent and a Barton Highway duplication would be necessary to cope with traffic.

“We have 3,500 commuters a day through the Yass Valley,” she said.

“With the volume of traffic that we have, it is at times higher than the Hume Highway.

“This is a major arterial road from Melbourne and Adelaide and Perth into Canberra and going through up to Sydney.

“It is extraordinary that it is still a single lane road with very few overtaking lanes.”

The Barton Highway was last year named the ACT’s worst road and also featured on the list of NSW’s worst roads.

Ms Abbey said she hoped the recommendations in the report added weight to ongoing calls for further safety improvements to the notorious stretch of highway between Yass and Canberra.