Fast lane to worries outside Cooroy

Speed a worry at road turn as questions on other safety sections raised

SPEED CONCERN: Swift Dr outside Cooroy has caused road safety issues for local residents. Picture: Peter Gardiner

IT'S a case of "too fast and the furious" in Noosa after the speed limit on Cooroy Noosa Rd near the entrance to Swift Drive jumped from 60 to 90km/h, throwing some locals into a spin.

However despite complaints from locals about the safety of the change, the Department of Main Roads says the speed limit is not a problem.

This has been discussed by Noosa councillors when considering the latest report of the Noosa Traffic Advisory and Speed Management Committee made up of council, emergency services and state transport authorities.

A council traffic officer said this state road had the speed dropped from 100 to 90km/h in March last year.

"Around Swift Dr, the speed was previously 80, now it's 90 so that was the initial concern by residents," the officer said.

"The local police from Cooroy are happy with it. Everyone seems to be OK with it."

The traffic advisory report said the Department of Transport and Main Roads had been monitoring and there had been no crashes and no further community complaints.

Another road section of concern to councillor Brian Stockwell is the Hilton Tce pedestrian crossing, where a 59-year-old Victorian tourist was struck and killed during April in fading daylight.

This has been under police investigation but Cr Stockwell asked whether it was "something we need to consider" given the council was intending to do major roadworks for the nearby new Hilton Terrace and Ernest St intersection roundabout.

Mayor Tony Wellington said Noosa MP Sandy Bolton had raised concerns about this area.

Councillors were told the council design and traffic teams had done an "internal audit" to come up with better visual improvements and engineers were working on designs with safety in mind.

The officer said the council was also waiting on a coroner's findings.

Cr Joe Jurisevic said this crossing was already well lit at night.

As well, the council has agreed to do stormwater drainage works at the Reef St and Eenie Creek Rd roundabout in Noosaville following public complaints about vehicle crashes there.

The advisory report said police had done friction testing on the road surface "following road scarification works by council" to help improve vehicle road grip.

"Results for dry weather conditions suggest very little improvement," it said.

"The results for wet weather testing were inconclusive and further testing by QPS is required."

Cr Jurisevic said: "Anecdotally it does appear to be having impact - I haven't seen a vehicle off the road there for some time."

He was told it was too early to establish if this had led to fewer road crashes.