Just ask those who watched as the Newcastle Inner City Bypass's Sandgate to Jesmond section, which arrived 31 years after the Rankin Park to Kotara section, and those who continue to await the M1 connection expected to bridge the gap between Tarro and Tomago that regularly flares with holiday traffic and delays.

As school holidays drew to a close and that stretch of road showed the strain again, it was welcome to hear that NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet had put the project forward for fast-tracked Commonwealth funding. The $2 billion project would connect the M1 at Black Hill with the Pacific Highway at Raymond Terrace. Including a proposed bridge, the project drew federal attention earlier this year with a funding pledge. Most of those funds, though, are not due to be spent until at least 2023.

Asking for funds, or promising them in a future beyond the government's present term, is one thing; delivering the projects is another entirely.

If the need for the project is in question, it should not be. Since Bulahdelah's bypass less than a decade ago, Hexham remains the Hunter's last reliable source of holiday traffic delays on long weekends, holiday periods and other times when the road's capacity approaches its peak.

This is the road that connects Sydney to not only the Hunter, but Brisbane and the north of the state. NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury describes it as one of the last pieces of the puzzle between those two cities by road. "We're pretty much done," he said. "The only thing left to do are a couple of patches plus the Coffs Harbour bypass, so this is the next step."

A chain is as strong as its weakest link, as the proverb goes. Until the M1 Motorway smoothly bypasses the Hexham Bridge bottleneck, the works on stretches through the Central Coast and further south will have a limited benefit for drivers.

Perhaps only the final stage of the Newcastle Inner City Bypass past the John Hunter Hospital is as important. It is another final stage in a major project, and its redistribution of peak-hour traffic could help redefine traffic snarls ingrained in the minds of drivers who face them regularly.

These are major projects, and certainly due diligence is required. But as decades elapse between some of these projects, more questions emerge about the commitment to delivering them to benefit Hunter drivers compared to using them as carrots when elections arrive.

The Hunter Expressway's success in linking Newcastle to the wider Hunter through its west has saved many drivers many hours, and the road remains a jewel in the region's infrastructure crown. The NRMA is convinced the M1 continuation could offer just as much. It is sure to be worth the wait.