MEMBERS of People with an interest in road safety for Waterfall Way have started independent traffic monitoring after the Roads and Maritime Services delayed a report of the road’s safety.
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The safety review of Waterfall Way was scheduled to be released in July however the report has now been delayed until September.
A Roads and Maritime Services spokesperson said: “Due to the complexity and sensitive nature of the data collection and analysis, the safety review is taking longer to finalise than first anticipated. Community information sessions will be held before the end of September to present the initial findings of the review, discuss safety work already underway and plans for future projects.”
In the meantime the Roads and Maritime Services highlighted measures they have implemented, and reiterated their concerns for road users’ safety.
“Roads and Maritime Services continue to investigate areas of community concern and examine traffic data collected as part of the Waterfall Way safety review,” a spokesperson said.
“In direct response to recent community feedback, the speed limit has been reduced from 100kph to 80kph at Thora and funding has been directed toward increased highway patrols on Waterfall Way and in Bellingen and Dorrigo.”
This has not satisfied the concerns of People with an interest in road safety for Waterfall Way who considered the report a matter of urgency given the impending outcome of the development application for expansion of Sheridan’s Hard Rock Quarry at Hernani by the Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP).
“Roads and Maritime Services disclosed 620 trucks will be transiting Bellingen per week from October 2014 to July 2015,” a concerned local member said.
“This number may be increased if the development application by Sheridan’s Hard Rock Quarry is approved at the JRPP Hearing on 21 August 2014.”
People with an interest in road safety for Waterfall Way have welcomed the Roads and Maritime Services increase in police patrols on Waterfall Way targetting speeding drivers.
“The community supports the police in its endeavours to improve road safety, but wonders if the police have been similarly monitoring the movement of unpermitted B-double trucks (of a night time). The community needs to persevere with reporting incidents to the police and to ensure that an incident report reference is allocated,” the spokesperson said.
