Page 4805 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 11 November 2009
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I do appreciate the government are in a hurry to build the roads around Harrison 4 because they want land release in the next year—and we all agree that affordable housing is a significant issue in this territory—but it is important to make sure that what we do is the best possible outcome for the long term and does not create safety and traffic problems for the future. As Mr Coe has said, the road is not ideally placed from the point of view of safety and we believe that a movement of the road could make it safer. Horse Park Drive is a busy road; it has a lot of traffic; so safety is important.
When I visited the site in January, I was quite surprised to find that an arterial road was proposed so close to existing housing. I had the same idea, as Mr Barr actually said in his speech, that arterial roads were meant to be at the outskirts of suburbs. And I believe that is the understanding that the residents also had. This road is not at the outskirts of Harrison. It is one hill in from the outskirts of Harrison. That seems to be at the heart of the issue. If the hill had been on the other side of the road, the hill would have provided a natural noise and safety barrier between the road and the existing developments.
Well Station Road is going to be a dual carriageway, with an expected traffic volume of 20,000 vehicles per day, at 20 metres from the residential Carpentaria Street. At the beginning, it will have a give way sign, we believe, but not traffic lights until later on. The local residents, of course, are very concerned that it is going to be a high-accident zone and they will unfortunately be witnessing a large number of accidents and possibly even deaths on their front doorstep.
Given all of this, we think there is merit in re-evaluating the current proposed alignment of the Well Station Drive extension and, in particular, consulting the community to redesign this to most likely an eastern alignment. As it is an arterial road, it should not be through the suburb. While Harrison 4 is currently in the design phase, this is the time to sort the problem out. While we have got the bit of Harrison which is next to it still to be sorted out, it would seem an ideal time to finally fix this problem.
While we are considering the road, I understand that there is a bike path planned for Well Station Drive. I also think we need one for Horse Park Drive. There is a shoulder on the road which is marked as a cycle path on the cycleways map but the cars really do fly along that road which is why, of course, the residents are concerned. But also from a cycling point of view, an off-road path would be preferable.
Another thing to note in terms of looking at the alignment of the road is that, since it was proposed, the footprint of the suburb of Throsby has been reduced; so potentially the alignment of the road could be altered. Throsby will have a lot fewer houses than the original proposal. And we do not believe that it is vital that the Well Station Drive intersect with the Throsby arterial road. Looking at Horse Park Drive, the access roads from Forde and Amaroo do not actually meet on Horse Park Drive; so there is precedent for this.
The Throsby realignment has meant that Well Station Drive and its relationship in particular to the Kenny shops, which have now moved, should be re-evaluated.
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