Coopernook: Engineer, residents call for overpass following tragic fatality on Pacific Highway
The tragic death of a 74-year-old woman this week has reignited calls for an overpass over the Pacific Highway location where the accident unfolded.
Mid-North Coast
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The death of an elderly woman outside a small town along the Mid-North Coast this week has reignited community debate for a Pacific Highway overpass at Harrington.
Members of the close-knit Harrington community, which has an average age of 72, said they were rattled to hear about the tragic death of the 74-year-old who was a passenger in a car that collided with another vehicle at the dangerous Harrington Rd intersection at Coopernook on Monday.
The woman died at the scene, while the male driver and another male passenger from the Mitsubishi suffered minor injuries. The female driver of the Toyota was also injured.
Both drivers were sent for mandatory drug and alcohol testing, and inquiries into the crash are continuing.
In the days since the incident unfolded, The Mid-North Coast News has been in contact with 47-year road engineer and Harrington resident, Gordon Chirgwin, who once worked for the Roads and Traffic Authority (now Roads and Maritime Services).
Four years ago Mr Chirgwin authored a report on behalf of the Harrington community that recommended the construction of an overpass across the intersection.
It noted that an “at grade separated intersection” – which is essentially an off-ramp and bridge – would provide for the safe movement of traffic in and out of Harrington Rd.
The report said it would “remove major risks at the intersection’ and ‘greatly improve amenity for all road users”.
It would also avoid having to take a “hair-raising” northbound turn into Harrington Rd, where trucks, buses, caravans and trailers are travelling at speeds of 120km/hr-plus in the other direction.
Four years since that report was written, and a 500-plus signature petition was tabled in NSW parliament and knocked back, nothing has been done.
“It’s not good enough,” Mr Chirgwin said. “It’s not good enough here, it’s not good enough at Medowie Rd (near Newcastle), it’s not good enough at the Tea Gardens turn-off and it’s not good enough at the Bulahdelah/Lakes Way turn-off … cars are coming down there in excess of 120km and it’s frightening.
“The intersection that is there now was problematic from the time that it went in [in 2006] when they were building the section of highway from Coopernook to Cundletown.
“Traffic numbers went from 7000 [back then] to 16-17,000 a day when I wrote the report. It has now continued to build upwards of 19,000.”
“The intersection really doesn’t meet the requirements of an intersection of that intensity of traffic.
“There’s a few things wrong with it and the geometry is a bit all over the place, it should always have had the bridge put in from the start.“
“They actually constructed an embankment [to cater for a future bridge] in 2006 when they were doing the road, so it would tell you that the intersection was never really a long-term proposition.
“The traffic in Harrington has doubled since the intersection went in, and the traffic on the highway has gone up by about two and a half to three times.”
“The right hand turn from the highway heading into Harrington Rd this year seems to be a lot larger than they have been before. That’s a problem with the gaps [between traffic] and the age of the drivers.”
At the same time Mr Chirgwin’s report was written, a late member of the Harrington community, Rhonda Taylor, presented a 500-plus signed petition to Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams, who tabled it in NSW parliament for the information of the then NSW Roads Minister, Melinda Pavey.
At that time, Ms Pavey said the ‘proposed projects’, being an overpass, ‘were not a priority’ and that the government was pursuing a draft post-duplication highway strategy that would ‘include detailed investigations of existing at-grade intersections such as the Harrington Rd and Coopernook intersections.’
Inquiries put to the now NSW Roads Minister Paul Toole failed to address where this post-duplication strategy was at.
Minister Toole instead said that the government would implement ‘short term improvements and safety signage.’
“I have spoken directly to local Members about the community’s concerns, and I can confirm that Transport for NSW will explore options for safety signage and other short-term improvements,” he said.
Ms Williams sent The Mid-North Coast News a detailed statement addressing the matter, which can be read in full below.
“I extend my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the woman who died following a collision on the Harrington Coopernook intersection on the Pacific Highway on Monday,” she said.
“While investigations into Monday‘s tragic motor vehicle accident continue, I can confirm that with the completion of the Pacific Highway duplication, Transport for NSW is investigating long term strategies for integrated transport planning on the corridor.
“This includes potential future upgrades for a number of intersections on the highway, including the intersections with Harrington and Coopernook roads.
“The Pacific Highway forms part of the key connecting transport network in this area and is part of the future growth planning for the region.
“Investigations are being carried out to identify and develop the most appropriate treatment to improve safety at these intersections and priorities will be determined when and if future funding becomes available.
“Identifying and prioritising locations to address safety and efficiency issues are a key part of Transport for NSW’s longer term strategy for managing the road network.
“This takes into account considerations including the safety record and potential risk of the site, highway traffic volumes, turning movements and projected traffic growth.
“Transport for NSW will continue to monitor safety performance across the road network and prioritise potential upgrades.
“As part of the Taree bypass project completed in 2000, some initial planning was completed to ensure that the bypass was designed in a way to facilitate future highway upgrades when required,” Mrs Williams said.
Coopernook resident Amanda Pearson said she drives to and from Harrington Rd every day, dodging and weaving through the Pacific Highway traffic.
“That’s [Harrington] where my son goes to childcare, and Harrington has the closest shops to home,” she said.
“If you’re there during holiday time, it’s near impossible to cross because you’ve got people coming from Sydney and traffic is banked up.
“All four lanes are completely full, and you’ve got people who are impatient trying to overtake you.”
A Transport for NSW spokesman said there had been four crashes at the intersection between 2011 and 2021.
“The other three occurred in March 2011 (moderate injury crash), March 2018 (moderate injury crash) and December 2018 (serious injury crash).
“These four casualty crashes resulted in eight casualties: one fatality, one serious injury, three moderate injuries, one minor / other injury and two uncategorised injuries.“
The town of Coopernook was bypassed in 2006 as part of the Pacific Highway upgrade program, which was fully completed this year.
The 4.2 kilometre bypass involved the construction of a four-lane divided road to the east of Coopernook.
A key feature of the upgrade included staggered T-intersections at Harrington Rd and Coopernook Rd, which was designed to make it easier and safer for local traffic to join the new highway.
The Coopernook bypass project, as with many of the highway upgrades since, was developed following extensive community consultation,
The 657km four-lane Hexham to Queensland border project was completed in December.
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