River Street Bridge Dubbo: Opponents mark petition milestone
Opponents of a plan to build a new bridge in Dubbo claim the $220 million project is a waste of money and won’t save lives.
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A group of about 50 people who claim to be the majority and not a vocal minority have gathered to hand over a petition supported by more than 11,000 people who want a major new infrastructure project planned for Dubbo axed.
The State Government is pressing ahead with a plan to build a $220 million bridge over the Macquarie River, however opponents want the project scrapped and a bypass built.
The government says its plan to build the bridge off River St in North Dubbo, and connect it with a new road link to Whylandra St in West Dubbo, is the best option and will provide another crossing over the river during flood events.
Opponents claim the plan is a waste of money because it will not cut traffic congestion or provide easy access across the river when flooding occurs. They want a new bridge built off the Troy Bridge Rd and a bypass around Dubbo constructed.
Dubbo resident Karina McLachlain has been spearheading the campaign to scrap the River Street Bridge plan and she said 11,396 people had signed a paper petition in support of the campaign.
Because more than 10,000 people had signed, Ms McLachlain said the petition could be debated in state parliament.
“It’ll be taken down to parliament by Labor’s (opposition spokesman for roads) Mick Veitch, he will hand it to the Shadow Regional Transport Minister David Harris who will present it to parliament,” she said.
“Then it will get hopefully debated sometime in the November session of parliament.”
Ms McLachlain said people who signed the petition had no interest in “trying to improve the design of the River Street Bridge”.
“What I say to the people of Dubbo who think we have no chance of stopping a bridge at River Street is this — we will not give up.
“The reason that we started the petition was because many members of the public were angry and needed an avenue in which to redirect their anger into positive action.
“We did not want people to wake the day the new bridge opened … and think ‘I wish I had taken more notice of this project when we still had a chance to stop it’.”
When the federal government recently announced it would contribute $176 million towards the cost of building the River Street Bridge, Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders said whenever he spoke to somebody about the project they were in favour of it.
“I have consistently stated that the River Street Bridge is a project I believe in and the petition doesn’t change that,” he said.
“This bridge is one part of an overall transportation plan for Dubbo going forward and I have always said it is not a case of either/or when it comes to this bridge and a bypass.
“The bridge, along with a major intersection upgrade at the junction of Whylandra and Victoria Street, will work in conjunction with a proposed low-level south bridge — which will be a congestion busting project — and down the track possibly a bypass when that is required.”
Dubbo Regional Council backs the petition and Ms McLachlain’s group.
Mayor Ben Shields, Deputy Mayor Stephen Lawrence and councillor Vicki Etheridge attended the petition handover event and continued to voice their opposition to the River Street Bridge plan.
Cr Shields told attendees the River Street Bridge proposal was a “disaster”.
“This proposal is not taking a single car of Whylandra Street, not a single one,” he said.
“This proposal is very, very similar to another bridge that was once proposed in Dubbo. They thought the best spot for it was at the end of Talbragar Street, not the end of Erskine Street.
“Luckily back then there was a council that pushed as hard as they possibly could to make them wake up to themselves and realise that you couldn’t put the Newell Highway down Talbragar Street. That would be ridiculous, this is history repeating itself.”
Dubbo needed “a proper ring road”, Cr Shields said.