RESIDENTS of Range Road have expressed concern that children or drivers could potentially be severely injured or killed, after they caught trucks carrying the equipment required for the Gullen Range Wind Farm speeding.
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The wind farm is set to have 70 turbines running, with 20 constructed so far.
Alan and Renira Reed have been living beside the road for 12 years and say this is the worst traffic that they have experienced.
“The trucks start coming up and down the road at 5 o’clock in the morning, and often don’t stop until 7pm most nights,” he said.
“Some of the local trucks such as Divalls are okay as far as the speed limit is concerned, but there are others that behave like cowboys.
“They are really exceeding the speed limits.
“There was an occasion in the last two to three days where we found ourselves in a very dangerous situation.
“We were very nearly hit head-on by a couple of these people, coming round a corner, over a blind rise, so we’re lucky we’re sitting here now.
“We are not the only ones that are worried.
Others have also been forced off the road.”
Mr Reed also said that the local children were at great risk of being hit.
“Our neighbour’s kids across the road are picked up by the school bus at around 8.05am - a full sized one, not a small one,” Mr Reed said.
“The children stand very close to the road, and the trucks come within a couple of feet of them or less. I stood there for 40 minutes and sat and watched and made a list of the number of trucks that passed, and there were 18 in total, some going north, some going south. In the middle of all this, the school bus has to pull up and pick these kids up.
“There’s nowhere for the bus to pull over it has to stand on the road, and pick up the children.
“This occurs in several places along Range Rd, and we are very concerned about the welfare of these children. This is a very very narrow road, only about four or five metres wide, if that in some places, and the trucks don’t slow down- they just keep thundering by.”
Mr Reed contacted Goulburn Mulwaree Council, and was told that they couldn’t do anything about it, as the road didn’t belong to them.
“We actually got on to Alby Schultz about this, and found that the road does actually belong to them,” Mr Reed said.
“They said, and I quote- ‘they’re in this up to their armpits’, and they do know about it. The road is their responsibility up to Pomeroy Bridge, and then it becomes Upper Lachlan Shire.”
Mr Reed praised the efforts of the Goulburn Police, who he said were ‘extremely helpful’ to their cause.
“I’d like to congratulate the Goulburn Police, who addressed our concerns, and have been out on the road catching these guys in the act,” he said.
“The officer in charge of the investigation also recently told us that Range Road is not actually zoned for B-double trucks, which is great news.”
Liberal candidate for Hume Angus Taylor told the Post that he was disappointed to hear about the deteriorating state of Range Rd.
“A number of locals and regular users of the road have voiced concerns to me in recent days,” he said.
“I often use the road myself both as a cyclist and in my car. It is reasonable to expect that any developer maintain or improve the condition and safety of access roads, not just at the end of the project, but during the course of the development as well.
I ask the developer to work closely with the two local councils to maintain or improve the condition and safety of this important local road.”
The Post sought comment from Goldwind, the company involved in the construction of the Gullen Range Wind Farm, but did not receive a response before the time of print.
