For some, it was the first time they had met but residents of Elizabeth Street in Forster have joined forces to denounce recent roadwork which they say has turned their quiet street into a thoroughfare.
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A resident for 16 years, June Wall described her street as “reasonably quiet” until Roads and Maritime Services stepped in, gifting a problematic spot on nearby Macintosh Street – a state managed, not local council road - with $200,000 worth of federal government Black Spot funding.
“They’ve simply taken a problem and dumped it somewhere else,” said Ms Wall.
The grant was announced late March by the state member for Myall Lakes Stephen Bromhead and the federal member for Lyne David Gillespie when they called for feedback on proposed changes to the intersection at Strand, Middle and Macintosh Streets to “improve safety and traffic flow for all road users.”
In the five years to December 2014, there were eight crashes within 50 metres of this intersection including four injuries.
But the new left-hand turn only from Strand Street onto the busier Macintosh Street has resulted in northbound drivers turning down off Strand into Elizabeth then Lake Streets instead to access the traffic lights right onto Macintosh, taking them past Holy Name Primary School.
“They’ve funneled everyone into a 40km zone. It’s ridiculous!” neighbour Wayne Holland said.
“Roads and Maritime Services consulted with key stakeholders and the community including Great Lakes Council, Forster Bowling Club and Holy Name Primary School on the proposed design earlier this year,” a spokesperson for the RMS said.
“After this consultation, some changes were made to the design to improve pedestrian safety at the intersection of Elizabeth Street and Lake Street, near the entrance to the primary school.”
But a bewildered Gerald Noordhof, whose house is on the corner, asked how any town planner could send traffic through to a school.
“It’s terrible compared to what it was.”
Far from being a “safe right turn access” at the lights, Elizabeth Street residents believe they are now caught in the middle of a potentially dangerous situation where cars and trucks roar down the 150 metre long stretch.
“The noise starts just after 5am. Elizabeth Street is marked as a school zone but they don’t comply with the speed limit.”
“We can’t leave the kids out the front anymore,” said mother of six Jodi Landers, motioning to the unfenced wide front garden where her children like to play cricket.
“If they need a drink we all have to get up and go inside.”
The residents added that at peak times of school drop-offs and pick-ups, the street is filled with parked cars so passing traffic has to wait and move in single file as there is no room for two cars to pass each other.
Despite statements from both MidCoast Council and Mr Bromhead’s office, which said the RMS had communicated to residents in March and then June, residents on Elizabeth Street said they had not received any notification in the mail about the plans until two weeks prior to work commencing.
Referring to the matter as a disgrace, she has a petition calling for the traffic changes to be reviewed.
“They put traffic lights and roundabouts in other spots along Macintosh. Why did this just get a left-hand turn?”
How the project came into being remains unclear but the RMS designed the plans and sought the funding. MidCoast Council said its only role was to construct the RMS’ design.
“We were a bit concerned and were asking questions,” said MidCoast Council’s Kumar Kuruppu, manager of Engineering Design and Investigation.
“They informed us about their traffic counts, and had figures on the number of accidents… They advised us they had also held consultations around the area.”
He added they were told that no adverse impact was expected from the work.
Mr Kuruppu now has traffic counters installed on Elizabeth Street and Cross Streets. The RMS will continue to monitor traffic patterns on Lake Street, and Mr Bromhead has requested the issue be discussed at MidCoast Council’s next Traffic Committee meeting.