Highway Upgrade
T2E intersection update - February 2012
The original plan for a complex high level floodlit roundabout with merging local and high speed traffic via complex intersections with Bangalow Road was rejected by a public meeting in July. Those at the meeting wanted no link with the new Tintenbar to Ewingsdale motorway (T2E).
As a result, for the past six months, a working party comprising representatives of NSW Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), Bangalow Progress Association and Bangalow Chamber of Commerce, plus a local farmer and businessman, has been working to develop alternatives to the highway interchange at Bangalow as originally proposed by the RTA (now RMS).
The working party took into account the RMS requirements for traffic to be diverted to and from the T2E when there were routine blockages or accidents in the St Helena tunnel, or accidents elsewhere on the motorway. Against these it considered local community concerns about excess noise, pollution, environmental degradation, scenic despoliation, traffic flows in and around Bangalow, safety and local access. It questioned the need for Bangalow to be the location for emergency diversions, and looked into suitability of the existing Ross Lane interchange and possible alternative sites such as Ivy Lane, Lawlers Lane and Emigrant Creek Bridge. Three new options are being presented to the community for consideration. None provide access at Bangalow to and from the T2E except in an emergency. Each differs in its approach to emergency diversions from the tunnel, access to and from the old Pacific Highway and the design and visual impact of the ‘gateway’ to Bangalow on Bangalow Road.
The first display session was held on 19 January and others will be on 2 February (4-8pm) and 4 February (9am-noon) at the A&I Hall. Information sheets containing maps and cross sections illustrating the possible visual impact of the three options compared with the original proposal were delivered to Bangalow addresses in January. Residents are urged to complete the feedback forms provided at the display sessions to ensure your choice is registered.
One question still remaining to be answered is how frequently these emergency diversion facilities are likely to be needed. Discussion with the Tugun tunnel operators indicate that, after initial bedding down, tunnel closures for routine maintenance are about once a quarter – and at night. Accidents serious enough to require traffic diversion are hard to estimate but, given the improved design of the T2E, it would be reasonable to hope for fewer than currently occur.
Intersection Update 01/08/11
Last month’s RTA public meeting was arranged by the RTA at the request of local MP Don Page. He wanted to assess Bangalow opinion on the proposed T2E Pacific Highway Upgrade interchange.
Some 200 participants listened to the RTA’s views on four design options for the interchange at Bangalow and the degree to which each met the needs of the RTA. RTA’s main case for the interchange is to handle emergencies in the St Helena tunnel and to permit oversized or hazardous loads to avoid the tunnel and get back onto the T2E at Bangalow.
The meeting was short, only 90 minutes, inadequate time to fully explore the options and their implications. There were, however, many audience interventions and questions but, unfortunately, very few satisfactory answers.
The focus on RTA’s needs was reinforced by the facilitator’s tight control over questions and timing. Possibly because almost all questioners were against the interchange she tried to close the meeting without allowing a consensus to be reached or even a vote on the individual options. Undaunted, Don Page stood up, grasped the microphone and asked the meeting to confirm that Bangalow was happy to use the old highway between Bangalow to Ross Lane and to have no interchange with the T2E.
The response was loud, clear and unified – those present did not want or need the motorway interchange and the associated roundabout.
Even Bob Higgins, Pacific Highway Upgrade General Manager, confirmed later that he had got the message that Bangalow did not want the interchange. If so, it has only taken three years, 170 formal written objections, a 1015 signature petition and innumerable letters to many ministers to achieve this small recognition.
But what happens next? Bangalow Chamber of Commerce, Bangalow Progress Association, the No Interchange Group and the Hinterland Way Working Group all say that Bangalow neither wanting nor needing a permanent exit to the highway should now allow the RTAto develop a better solution to traffic flow in the event of an emergency. The bestsolution for Bangalow, these groups think, would be a T2E emergency access pointwith the smallest possible footprint as far away as possible from Bangalow. This must now be a viable solution.
An unsatisfactory compromise might be one of the options presented at themeeting: a roundabout on Bangalow Road intersecting with the old highway, replacing the existing highway bridges, and with T2E access only in emergencies. But even this is a significant and inappropriate infrastructure footprint near the town.
Tony Hart
.. it has only taken three years, 170 formal written objections, a 1015 signature petition and innumerable letters to many ministers to achieve this small recognition.
Tony Hart