RUN-O-WATERS residents were left stranded on Thursday morning after a truck jack-knifed and blocked all traffic in and out of the area's only access road.
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The incident, which occurred shortly before 10am on Ducks Lane, has revived discussions around a secondary access point for residents of the south Goulburn suburb.
Police say the semi-trailer driver missed a turn and attempted a U-turn. The vehicle became bogged and jack-knifed, blocking both lanes of traffic for just under two hours.
Residents took to the Goulburn Post's Facebook page to ask what would happen in a "real emergency".
Some said Carr St should be re-opened, while others said it was too dangerous and that access should be linked to Shannon Drive.
Kevin West, a resident of the area, was one of dozens of vehicles caught up in the jam. From the scene, he told the Post his concerns.
"It was only 20 minutes ago that we had an elderly female resident inside Run-O-Waters who needed to get to an urgent medical appointment," he said.
"We actually put her in one of the cars on the outer side here to have her taken to her medical appointment. Here we are, sitting here . . . on both sides stuck in Run-O-Waters, unable to get in or out, waiting for a tow truck and I just hope Council really have a look at this and do something about getting another exit for the residents."
Goulburn Mulwaree mayor Geoff Kettle said the incident was a prime example of why an alternative access was needed.
A traffic survey and consultation has been undertaken and Cr Kettle expected the council would make a decision by the end of the year.
"There's still a lot of engineering work being done on the appropriate ways in which to have an alternative access into the Ducks Lane area," he told the Post.
"We are still waiting on that to come back and I expect something to come to Council before the end of the year.
"There are some new developments and more proposed subdivisions going in there. We do need to look at an alternative access, but we also need to respect that there are a lot of resident concerns whether to open Carr St or look at other avenues of entry. We've got to go through the appropriate consultation and engineering processes."
The Post submitted further questions to the council's general manager, Warwick Bennett. He could not respond by time of press, but committed to a full response next week.
"A truck has jack-knifed on Ducks Lane after missing a turnoff to a distribution centre," Mr Bennett said.
"The cause of this accident was a driver who was unaware of local traffic infrastructure and the soft nature of the grass verges.
"The issue of the future transport network planning in this area is a totally separate matter in which Council will research all the answers to your many questions and provide a detailed response next week."
Deputy Mayor Bob Kirk said while access was a "big problem" in the suburb, reopening Carr St would not solve it. "Even having Carr St open would not have solved the problem of this truck jack-knifing this morning because it occurred beyond the exit, so the residents would not have had an exit out that way . . . " Cr Kirk said.
"I would rather see another exit open towards the back of Run-O-Waters. It would be a worry if there was a real emergency today. It is a big problem."
Resident Sharon Howe agreed. "Having the second major access point 300m from the first one is not going to save Run-O-Waters residents," she said.
Other options
PETER Oliver has lived at Run-O-Waters since 2007. He believes that options other than Carr St need to be investigated.
"I think there's possibly been too much focus on reopening Carr St. The survey Council issued to the estate's residents simply asked if we supported the reopening of Carr St or not," he said. "If Ducks Lane is going to be interrupted, like it was on Thursday, it's unlikely that Carr St is going to be of any use.
"A new street, Pockleys Rd, has just been created off Ducks Lane. I don't know if it's feasible for Council to investigate connecting Pockleys Rd through to Ridge St or Mary St. I doubt this would become the main entry/egress point, but at least it would give residents an option when we have incidents like this one."
Mr Oliver said yesterday's incident was not an isolated one. He described the area as "bedlam" when Hume Highway accidents lead to traffic detours through the city.
"Just last year, when a grassfire closed the highway, it took my mother nearly half an hour to get [home] from Montague St with trucks and cars parking up across the roundabout," he said.
"Now, if we have another event like that, and someone needs to urgently get out of the estate, they're stuffed. If there's a bushfire, and Ducks Lane is inaccessible, I believe we have to drive through a paddock, cut a fence and drive out onto the highway."
Mr Oliver held concerns for future access. With significant industrial development in the southern end of the city and new subdivisions popping up in the rural suburb, he said it was time to get serious.
"Ducks Lane has already become quite a congested entry point for residents. There's now additional traffic from Bunnings, the Coles DC, the Hume St roundabout, there's construction vehicles for the estate's new subdivisions, and soon there's going to be construction starting on the new servo next to Bunnings," he said.
"When you factor in the traffic coming into town, which quite often hammers along Hume St and occasionally flies into the Ducks Lane/Hume St roundabout, it can make for a hectic drive home.
"Judging by the construction work going into the subdivisions around the estate, Run-O-Waters is becoming a growth area of town. It might be time to seriously look at a second entry point."