There will be protests in the streets if the Roads and Maritime Service doesn’t act now to rectify the Union Street lights.
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Two months after a promise to adjust signalling to free up traffic, nothing has changed. We can well understand people’s frustration, queuing up in a line that stretches back into Chantry Street. This is Goulburn after all, not George Street, Sydney.
We’re at a loss to know just what the RMS can achieve through more talking. It’s pretty clear from community feedback that people want one thing – restore the ‘left turn on red’ sign from Union Street onto Sydney Road. It’s that simple.
If indeed the signalling was changed in June, it made little difference. The traffic lines are just as long.
Back in May, when announcing the $810,000 work, Goulburn MP Pru Goward said the community would “greatly appreciate” the safety improvements at the intersection. She also stated that heavy vehicle access had been improved through a wider turning area from Union Street on to Sydney Road.
But while the crossing was a great solution for the school and was requested by the council, the signal phasing created another safety hazard. Traffic controllers at Goulburn North Public School, patrolling the secondary crossing on Union Street, have their hands full with traffic banking up.
Typically, RMS has provided a glib response to the community’s protestations, saying it would continue to look at any further changes to free up traffic flow.
As we’ve said here many times before, the wheels turn slowly in bureaucracy land. The delays on Lansdowne Bridge’s construction are another case in point.
Happily, Mayor Bob Kirk and Goulburn MP are on the Union Street case. Some political interference at the top can’t come soon enough.
Going full throttle
Urban Enterprise’s study of Wakefield Park has confirmed what many of us know but haven’t always appreciated.
The Braidwood Road racing circuit is a money spinner for Goulburn but we don’t always appreciate the fact. Motels and pubs are regularly booked out for major fixtures and even smaller events are pulling in the crowds.
While sometimes controversial, it shows there’s great merit in Goulburn Mulwaree Council developing this industry further.