Tourists and locals alike will benefit from the sealing of parts of the National Park Road in the Gilgandra Shire Council.

Twelve-and-a-half kilometres of dirt road along the 52-kilometere National Park Road will be sealed and widened to improve travel and make the road more resilient to heavy rain and other weather events. 

The remainder of the National Park Road that will be sealed runs from the northern end of the road to the Barone Creek crossing.

As well as unlocking access to the Warrumbungle National Park from the west, the upgrade will improve the lives of families and assist operations of businesses in the area.

"Families in the Curban and Tooraweenah area along this road will have improved access to health and education facilities through reduced travel times and all-weather access, leading to greater livability for this region," Gilgandra Shire Mayor Doug Batton said. 

The road repairs will also support school bus runs and give increased access to the Warrumbungle National Park. 

Resident Karen Halfpenny is looking forward to the upgrade. "When it's wet, we don't go anywhere. We try to stay home, because the minute we turn off our driveway it gets greasy." 

"Friends can't come to visit unless they have a four-wheel drive," Ms Halfpenny said.

"Once it's tarred, it will be great." 

The new sealed section will improve access to the Warrumbungle National Park from the west. IMAGE: DOMAIN

The sealing of the road will also improve access to silos in Gilgandra, Curban, Armatree, and Gulargambone, supporting grain distribution across the region. 

The total cost of the road was $4,878,344 with $3 million coming from the Fixing Local Roads Program and an additional $878,444 through the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. 

The remaining $999,900 came from council funding.

MP Roy Butler and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison attended the sod turn. 

"I'm so pleased to visit Gilgandra to see the start of work on this important upgrade which will greatly improve local travel and transport links," Minister Aitchison said.

Mr Butler said the region would see more activity to improve driving conditions and access. "With NSW government funding, we expect to see many more kilometres of sealed roads to be constructed in the near future." 

"Reliable, all-weather roads mean that council spends less time and money grading unsealed roads and producers and the general public have safe, more dependable transport roads."

Tenders to seal more than 58 kilometres of the Tooraweenah to Coonamble Road, which connects with Gilgandra Shire's National Park Road, have recently closed.

That project, funded by the Commonwealth Government, will complete a fully-sealed link from the National Park to Coonamble.