Wingecarribee Shire Council has announced a multimillion-dollar makeover for Old South Rd
After vocal complaints from the community about the dangerous potholes on the crucial Old South Road, Wingecarribee Shire Council has announced a multimillion-dollar overhaul.
The Bowral News
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After a petition demanding the improvement of the dangerously potholed Old South Rd gathered more than 1300 signatures, the Wingecarribee Shire Council has announced it will spend millions of dollars on fixing the issue.
The road is a crucial connection between Mittagong, Bowral and the Northern Villages of the Southern Highlands and is consistently busy with traffic, including a number of school buses. The famously bad potholes that mar the surface have only been worsened by the heavy rainfall the area has experienced this summer.
The Wingecarribee Shire Council announced on Monday it would spend a million dollars to overhaul a total of 9.3km from Merrigang Street in Bowral to Aylmerton Road in Mittagong.
While the details are still being finalised, it appears the refurbishment will be done in stages to minimise interruption for locals.
“We are finetuning final design details for what is a very complex project,” said Council’s Director of Service and Project Delivery, Karin Targa.
“This is a large-scale undertaking designed to improve safety on one of our Shire’s most important roads.”
The million dollar makeover will involve the reconstruction and widening of Old South Rd where possible. Council will also install safety improvement measures such as crash barriers, audio tactile markers and warning signs, which will help motorists navigate the blind turns better.
A poll by The Bowral News showed local residents overwhelmingly voted Old South Road as one of the worst in the entire Shire. Council candidate Sam Zilinskas took the community feedback and created a Change.org petition demanding the busy thoroughfare be fixed.
“Old South Road is in a terrible state of disrepair as it is riddled with large ruts and potholes and some parts are not even adequately sealed,” Mr Zilinskas wrote in the petition.
“(A) major incident or fatality is waiting to happen if the road is not given urgent attention.”
The petition currently has over 1300 signatures and numerous comments from locals decrying the state of the road, with one commentator labelling it a “death trap”.
A spokesman for the council said the announcement of a multimillion refurbishment of Old South Rd was not a reaction to the petition, but a reminder of the council’s ongoing commitment to fix the road. Refurbishing Old South Rd is a “huge undertaking” the council has been planning for years, the spokesman said.
The Micromex Community Research report tabled at the Council Meeting on May 20 last year revealed 94 per cent of Southern Highlands residents rated the condition of local roads as one of the most important issues in the region. Of the more than 400 surveyed, only 31 per cent were satisfied with the current state of the roads.
The road renewal will be jointly funded by the council and the NSW Government’s Safer Roads Program and Fixing Local Roads Program. A spokesman for the council said the final price tag is still being calculated, but confirmed it will be a multimillion-dollar road upgrade.
According to the council website, current estimates suggest the project will cost around $12 million.
Petition author Sam Zilinskas told The Bowral News he was happy to hear the news and would continue to campaign for better local roads.
“I am pleased to hear that council has committed to spend millions of dollars to fix Old South Road because this will reduce fatalities and incidents occurring on this extremely important transport link in the Highlands,” he said.
“Let’s wait and see until shovels are in the ground though as this is still a small step forward.”
Council expect the tender for the project will be released in a few months with construction to begin soon after.
The overhaul of Old South Rd is slated to be completed in 2024.
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