Toowoomba council to explore turning off new Margaret Street traffic lights for 20 hours of day after resident backlash

Toowoomba mayor Geoff McDonald has clashed with one of the council’s top bureaucrats over his idea for a trial involving the city’s newest $1.7m traffic lights.

A new set of lights on Margaret St has caused motorists confusion and residents inconvenience.

Toowoomba’s newest set of traffic lights could be switched off for most of the day as part of a potential trial pushed by mayor Geoff McDonald — a move that one general manager said was a not “a very good idea”.

The council voted at Tuesday’s committee meetings to start work on the first of $600,000 in upgrades to Curzon Street in East Toowoomba, to stop vehicles using the local road to avoid the newly-installed $1.7m traffic lights on the intersection of Margaret and Mackenzie Streets.

The $160,000 in initial changes, which included new line markings and reprioritising two intersections along Curzon, were recommended in a traffic study that also revealed vehicle movements along the street had doubled since the lights opened in February.

At the same time, the use of Mackenzie Street from Margaret Street by drivers halved after the intersection was signalised.

The huge surge in new non-local traffic sparked significant backlash from residents, who organised community forums and lobbied the council to make changes.

While all councillors endorsed the start of works, a number of elected officials opined whether the lights could be removed or simply turned off.

This prompted Mr McDonald to suggest a short trial of turning the lights on only during the peak school hours of 7-9am and 2-4pm (four out of 24 hours in a day), asking infrastructure general manager Mike Brady to determine by next week’s ordinary meeting whether it could be done.

Mayor Geoff McDonald speaks to media as Toowoomba councillors formally approve a $703 million budget for 2024-25. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“I would like to really prosecute of making a change we can meaningfully measure, which is to have the capacity to revert the lights in operation from 7am to 9am, and 2 until 4pm during school days,” he said.

“I’d urge you to consider this (and) next Tuesday this comes back for us to consider.

“If we want to make an impact, that’s the way to do it, and that’s the only way to do it.”

Mr Brady said a week would be too short a time span to bring a report back to council, while noting he was sceptical of the perceived benefits of the mayor’s plan.

“That will have the reverse effect — the peaks are between 7am to 9am,” he said.

“If your signals are operational, you’re not bringing down traffic on Curzon Street.

“Having the lights on during the busiest time is actually the worst time, because that will promote the traffic to use Curzon Street.”

Infrastructure services general manager Mike Brady addresses councillors at a meeting to discuss future of Toowoomba City Aerodrome also know as Toowoomba Airport, Tuesday, May 28, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Using a defensive tone, Mr McDonald responded by arguing the trial would only work if it was enacted before the school term ended, saying “over the next 10 to 12 weeks, you’d have enough data to determine whether this works or not”.

“I can only advise council from myself professionally that I don’t think that’s a very good idea at this moment in time,” Mr Brady said.

The mayor’s idea was support by Edwina Farquhar and Melissa Taylor, who disagreed with Mr Brady’s assessment that it would have the opposite effect.

“If you put all those other treatments into Curzon plus the lights and school traffic, it’s going to be easier to go through the lights than the school traffic (on Curzon),” she said.

This drew a rebuke from chair Carol Taylor, who said councillors were “not traffic engineers”.

Councillor Melissa Taylor during a council meeting to discuss the future of Toowoomba City Aerodrome (also know as Toowoomba Airport), Tuesday, May 28, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“I realise we’re not traffic engineers but we as councillors sit around the table to give our opinion on behalf of our constituents which is exactly what I was doing,” Melissa Taylor replied.

Carol Taylor responded: “Indeed, and tomorrow we turn the lights off and there could be a fatality and a serious accident because of that decision.”

Mr Brady also faced scrutiny after he said the traffic changes as a result of the lights being installed were “unintended and unforeseen”, with deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff calling the comments “concerning”.

“I am concerned that we might not have actually learnt our lessons because we haven’t fully addressed them even in that report, which is a good report,” she said.

“The scope hasn’t been big enough because it hasn’t addressed the other concerns which we all understand relating to squeezing traffic out of Curzon.

“(The traffic is) going to manifest on Dunmore, Arthur, Curzon, Sinclair, Fernside, Mayes, the top of Margaret and I am concerned we haven’t holistically looked at this.”