A meeting to update residents on Traffic Management Plan for Run-O-Waters Estate turned into a fiery session at the council chambers on Thursday night.
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Angry Run-O-Waters residents interjected and shouted over a council presentation on projected 20-year traffic modelling studies.
The main question on the crowd’s mind appeared to be why Carr St had not been reopened to provide a second exit from the estate?
They also questioned why a proposed road link between Pockley Drive and Mary St had not progressed.
The lack of another road in and out of the estate has residents concerned about access in the event of an emergency such as a fire or accident.
Council has recently provided gated access to Carr St and also to the Hume Highway in the event of emergencies, but such measures did not placate the crowd, who yelled over the top of the presentation and various attempts to pull the group back into discussion.
“When there is a fire there is no way to get out,” resident Mike Fischer said.
Another woman in the crowd yelled: “we got all letter to say it has all been sorted - we have a locked gate here and there and if a fire happens, you go up there and wait for someone to come and open the gate.”
Goulburn Mulwaree Bob Kirk attempted several times to moderate the increasingly hostile crowd.
“Ducks Lane has been the only road in there for the last 30 years - we are trying to find the best solution to change that - that is the point of these traffic studies - to take into account what else might happen in the area,” Cr Kirk said.
“To achieve the best outcome we have to take into account all the issues that affect residents. On one hand we are trying to address the immediate issue of Run-O-Waters access and on the other we are attempting to gather information to take into account the future needs of the area.”
Goulburn Mulware operations director Matt O’Rourke summarized the traffic studies, saying there were distinct considerations for the area: (1) a possible link from Pockley Drive to the western end of Mary St, (2) the reopening of Carr St and (3) providing a link between Lockyer and Tait streets.
Mr O’Rourke clarified that all three road connections would proceed.
“Modelling shows that over next 20 years each of those connections is necessary so between now and then, with the Employment Lands Strategy, development and residential growth – a link from Pockley Drive to Mary St is required as well as the reopening of Carr St and the Tait to Lockyer St connection,” Mr O’Rourke said.
Increasing dangers from the traffic build up in the area near Sowerby St were also flagged, with one resident saying she felt like she was “taking her life into her hands” every time she drove in and out of the estate.
“In the snow season, Hume St traffic backs up to the Big Merino roundabout and there may be an accident there because of people speeding through the area,” Anne Oliver said.
Mr O’Rourke acknowledged traffic congestion in the area.
He said the traffic studies had shown that Hume St would not cross the Roads and Maritime Services threshold for extra assistance for roundabouts or traffic lights over the next 20 years.
“We do not cross the RMS threshold for any more work – as far as they are concerned nothing required for the next 20 years on Hume St,” Mr O’Rourke said.
“So council has to come in and bridge that gap because we all know if you get caught up there at the intersection at Sowerby St, you would think ‘this is crazy,’ so there are two considerations - the model which considers the numbers and then the social impacts of the traffic in that area.”
After the meeting, resident Stewart Thompson said it was an ‘absolute debacle.”
“There was no process to say ‘how are we going to do this,” Mr Thompson said.
“I want to be positive about it. there are more solutions. To me this was just an engineering presentation, when it should have been a presentation by the whole of council – the strategic planners should have been there as well as the RMS engineers and – they could have said ‘you don’t get a roundabout until you get 1000 cars an hour – you only have 700’ – that is all that had to be said.
“Instead, it remains wishy-washy. I also wanted to point out that there is now a sign in Ducks Lane that says: ‘b-doubles can not go past this point.’ Well, I have a farm and I want to bring those trucks in to put cattle in them for my new proposed feedlot – that would have caused a storm if I had of asked that question because it raises many other issues.”