Former Member for Blue Mountains Bob Debus has described Liberal claims about the Great Western Highway funding as "something as misleading as you'd expect from Tony Abbott".
"They say the state government has spent $569 million upgrading the highway since March 2011 and hope nobody will examine their preposterous claim," he said.
"The plain fact of the matter is that by the time the Coalition came to office all the highway upgrading east of Katoomba was planned, funded and contracted except the Bullaburra sections. Even there, the western section was planned.
"The Wran government did a lot of work in the Lower Mountains and completed the Katoomba bypass, the Greiner government completed the Woodford bends and the Carr government came to office in 1995 promising to upgrade everywhere else east of Katoomba," Mr Debus said.
"The truth is that between 1995 and 2011 state Labor committed around $1 billion to upgrade the highway. The present state government completed preparations at Bullaburra. Otherwise it did some accounting and changed some speed signs."
But the current member for Blue Mountains Roza Sage countered the claims, adding "obviously the Labor candidate has no credibility on road infrastructure when it requires a former Labor politician to be dusted off for comment".
"Labor promised the highway would be finished for the Olympics -unfortunately they failed to mention which one. Later they promised completion in 2010."
Mrs Sage also invited readers to examine the numbers.
"The proof is all in the pudding. Anyone driving the Great Western Highway can clearly see how the NSW Liberals and Nationals government has fast tracked major upgrade works.
"In NSW Labor's last four financial years in government (2007-08 to 2010-11), $430 million was invested in the Great Western Highway. In our first term (2011-12 to 2014-15), we have invested a historic $569 million to upgrade and maintain the highway. Or in other words, a 30 per cent increase in funding compared to Labor," Mrs Sage said.
"Let's also not forget the $48 million the NSW government has invested towards upgrading the Bells Line of Road, including the delivery of seven extra overtaking lanes. This is the largest investment in the road in a generation. We also invested $2.1 million to upgrade Hawkesbury Road.
"When it comes to building critical transport infrastructure, Labor is and always has been a road to nowhere."
State Labor candidate Trish Doyle challenged the Liberals to explain their claim.
"It might be that they are counting in a federal contribution of $200 million committed by federal Labor to highway upgrading west of Katoomba in 2007 and still mostly unspent."
Mr Debus added: "The job did take longer than first anticipated and it was helped by several injections of direct federal funding during the Howard time and especially under the Labor 'economic stimulus' but it has been a great enterprise in nation building. In any event there is no way the Liberals can honestly lay claim to something like half of all the expenditure since 1995."
Mrs Sage said "in 2015, the Liberals and Nationals government will deliver this project -true to our word".