What we need is forward thinking to the needs of the towns in 20 or 30 years. By that time we will need a town bypass and better access from the highway.

Both could be achieved by leaving the present bridge and putting the effort into a new access road from the highway beginning at a point between Nabiac and Coolongolook and ending south of Forster CBD, maybe near McDonalds. There would be an exit into Tuncurry and it would also serve as a second crossing between the towns. This would:

| Provide a much needed alternative access to both towns

| Remove through traffic in Tuncurry and along Head Street

| Lessen the pressure on the existing bridge

| Lessen the danger to pedestrians crossing Head Street

| Lessen pressure on Failford Road and the Lakes Way, in terms of traffic and upgrades

| Remove the need for highway intersection upgrades for Failford Road and the Lakes Way

| Save a great deal of time and fuel for everyone coming to the towns from the M1

| Avoid the inevitable disruption that adding lanes to the existing bridge will cause

| Set the towns up for the inevitable future growth in both resident and visitor population.

Leave the iconic bridge as it is.

The duplication of the existing bridge between Forster and Tuncurry certainly would not be a practical solution to the traffic problems and would immediately worsen the situation.

What is never discussed when duplication is raised are where the approach roads are going.

The parks on both sides of the water would be consigned to memory and still the roads on both sides would have to be widened to six lanes obliterating pretty much both towns.

Approaches from the highway certainly addresses the long term future as well as the question of where much of the traffic is going.

Is much of the traffic 'through' or 'local' traffic?

I'd suggest much of it is local traffic apart from obvious holiday seasons so therein lies further questions of how to handle the significantly increase in local traffic especially given how much overdevelopment is beginning to impact on both towns.

So when considering signing Mr Bromhead's petition to build another bridge, consider the whole picture.

We are definitely at a point in the growth of the Forster-Tuncurry area where we need to look into the accessibility of moving through our twin towns.

That's why I put a motion to MidCoast Council back in April in regards to a long term strategy for traffic management along The Lakes Way through Forster and Tuncurry. (TfNSW Future Transport 2056 Strategy)

After the community having their say in regards to the roundabout that TfNSW was planning just off the bridge on the Tuncurry side over one year ago, everything went quiet to how the State government was going to fix this issue.

I would prefer to see an opportunity to have State government look at other ways to fix the congestion in our area,

| Overpasses/underpasses at the two pedestrian crossings

| Remove the set of lights at the corner of Head and Beach streets, Forster (have a pedestrian crossing further down near West Street

| A road linking the Northern Parkway through to Beach Street as an alternative route for access to the school precinct. This would definitely alleviate the issue with congestion in the morning and afternoon outside the TAFE.

We actually need to look at the traffic management and a long term strategy to help with the flow of traffic before changing our unique bridge.

Once it is gone you will never get back.

Troy Fowler is a councillor on MidCoast Council

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