EUROBODALLA Shire Council’s infrastructure director Warren Sharpe is calling for the 80km/h speed zones either side of Braidwood on the Kings Highway to be put back to 100km/h because, he claims, it is costing businesses $400,000 a year.
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In a report to the May meeting of the South East Australia Transport Strategy (SEATS) Mr Sharpe said the temporarily lowered speed limits on either side of Braidwood were costing businesses because of extra travelling time.
Under the Kings Highway route safety review, Roads and Ports Minister Duncan Gay announced the 100km/h speed limit would be reduced to 80km/h along the avenues of trees on both sides of Braidwood.
The $400,000 figure was calculated by Eurobodalla council from data provided by NSW Roads and Maritime Services, and is said to take into account the length of delays, lost productivity, and the number of vehicles using the road.
“When we’re doing improvement projects we calculate the net benefits to the community and that includes any gains we may get in improved efficiency,” Mr Sharpe said.
“If you’re running a trucking business and transport goods through the Braidwood area, then any additional delays you encounter will ultimately have a cost impact.”
Mr Sharpe said council would write to the Minister to ask that works to allow restoration of the speed zone to 100km/h be undertaken.
“A solution is a combination of protective fence and/or tree work,” Mr Sharpe said in the report.
Eurobodalla Shire councillor and SEATS representative Neil Burnside said every time a speed limit was dropped, it added to the cost of goods that came to the shire by road.
“Most of our freight comes to the shire via road,” Cr Burnside said.
“Calling for the return of the 100km/h zone is an economic decision.”
He said another concern was where the 80km/h zone came into effect.
“It’s at the crest of a hill where traffic is merging out of an over-taking lane,” he said.
“When you’ve got a line of traffic that can potentially be dangerous.”
Cr Burnside said RMS proposed to erect barricades to prevent vehicles crashing into the trees along the road in the 80km/h zones.
“I can’t see the difference in impact between 80 kilometres an hour and 100 kilometres an hour,” he said.
Batemans Bay Chamber of Commerce committee member Chris Jones has voiced his support for Mr Sharpe’s proposal.
“I believe the road between Canberra and the Bay has been neglected for a long time and measures that have been undertaken as far as road repairs go have only been resurfacing,” he said.
“Rather than making the road safer by adding passing lanes and clearing trees, they have reduced the speed limits, and that has had an affect on people willing to travel here.”
Mr Jones said the current wait of up to half an hour at road works was a deterrent for people travelling to the coast.
“If the roadworks were going to improve the quality of the road, I would be happy to wait but they aren’t,” he said.
“People are happy to travel one-and-a-half hours to the coast for the weekend but they aren’t when it’s extended to over two hours.
“The larger the travel time, the bigger the effect it has on businesses down here.”
Since the 80km/h zone was put in place either side of Braidwood in 2013, there have been no major crashes in the area, despite the poor state of the road.
