Cr Leah Ferrara has expressed her frustration over council spending to erect a warning system for caravaners on a low-lying underpass.
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She voted against a move at the most recent council meeting to mount two height clearance bars 150 metres away from the Sloane Street rail underpass, near Braidwood Road.
The structures, comprising two metal poles with a connecting bar, a series of chains below hanging another metal bar, will cost $50,000. They will be erected some 50 metres away from the intersections at Garroorigang/Braidwood Road and the Mazamet Road/Sloane Street and are designed to stop motorists destroying air-conditioning units on their caravans as they pass underneath the bridge.
"I don't think this will fix anything," Cr Ferrara said.
"I'm very upset that there we have 10 warning signs (around there about the low-level clearance) but we still have to spend $50,000 to stop this problem."
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Cr Ferrara said she and her family often noticed caravaners trying to back up once they realised their vehicles wouldn't fit.
But plenty of others have come to grief despite the signs mounted on the Braidwood Road, Sloane Street Garroorigang Road and Mazamet Road approaches warning of the 2.7-metre clearance.
Toowoomba couple Lawson and Janet Rennie told The Post in April that their GPS unit navigated them on this route from the Hume Highway at Christmas.
"We came to the T-intersection (Mazamet and Garroorigang Roads). I didn't see the sign (warning of the low clearance) but my wife did. We drove down through an S-bend and then heard a crunch. The bridge took the air-conditioner straight off the top of the van," Mr Rennie said.
The repairs cost $1000, which was covered by insurance. Debris from other similar accidents also lies around the bridge.
Harco Motor and Caravan Centre owner, Stephen Cohen, knows this only too well. He wrote to the council last December asking for greater action.
"To date I have carried out patching and sealing of 14 caravans that have had their air-conditioners smashed as their owners have tried to go under this low railway bridge," he wrote.
"I have asked them to spread the word but I don't think their method is working!"
The council's traffic committee has also considered the issue several times. An additional two large signs were mounted as a result.
Operations director Matt O'Rourke said the council had also alerted the Australian Rail Track Corporation, which managed the underpass, to the problem. ARTC had advised it would inspect the area.
Despite recommending the bar structure, Mr O'Rourke told councillors he wasn't convinced it would fix the issue.
"But we'll give it a go," he said.
"...Greater minds than mine have given thought to this. We've done more than our minimum requirement in setting up an advanced warning system...This is the next most cost effective option."
But Cr Ferrara branded it "a waste of money."
"It frustrates me that we have 10 signs but we're spending money for people who probably don't even visit our town and leave all their rubbish behind," she said.
Cr Denzil Sturgiss questioned whether people would still have enough space to turn around, given the bars' location. He suggested a turning area but Mr O'Rourke said this was not possible without extensive road works.
Mayor Bob Kirk foreshadowed a motion to "take no further action" but this did not eventuate. The majority of councillors supported the new clearance bars.
Mr Cohen believed they would make a difference and pointed to a similar structure at the Goulburn Square car park entry.
"(But) I'd like to see insurance companies not pick up the tab to fix caravans when it's negligent driving," he said.
Mr Cohen said his bigger concern was the release of "ozone depleting gases" from the broken air-conditioning units.
"Anyone with children should take umbrage at this preventable discharge of gas," he said.
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