Trucks are the lifeblood of regional communities, delivering essential goods and services.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Inadequate roads mean truck drivers put their lives, and the lives of others, at unnecessary risk.
These are two reasons Eurobodalla Shire Council’s infrastructure director, Warren Sharpe, backs Fairfax Media’s FIX IT NOW campaign for the Princes Highway.
“This is a truckie’s workplace, and having six-metre wide bridges in a road that’s been designed to be 11 metres, that’s an unfair ask,” Mr Sharpe said.
“There are a number of structures that are very narrow; one in Mogo township. That’s an extremely narrow bridge on a bend. I met a 19-metre semi on that bridge just last week; it was over the centre line.”
He described the encounter as “frightening” and called on Roads and Maritime Services to act.
“It’s on a curve and a very narrow structure – RMS really need to lift that in their priorities,” he said.
It makes it a really tough job
- Warren Sharpe
The Narooma bridge was also dangerous.
“Trucks have to physically cross the centre line, almost to the other side of the road, to get onto the bridge at the northern approach,” Mr Sharpe said.
“Further south you have Brogo; one that really stands out at Bega is Alsops near Brogo Hall. It’s the same sort of situation as Mogo, except in a high-speed environment, where you’ve got a tight curve and a narrow bridge. It makes it a really tough job for truckies.”
Mr Sharpe said it was critical to think long-term.
“We’d like to see the RMS and Transport NSW give priority to the bridge structures, but in a way that sets them into the future design of the road,” he said.
“Work out where the route is going, build a bridge to suit the future alignment, and then you’ve got a win/win, in the short and long term. It gives the opportunity to move from 19-metre semi trailers to six-metre B-doubles, which will reduce the number of trucks on the highway and increase transport efficiency, which means lower-cost goods and services.”
His dream?
“A really strong plan that focuses on these nodes (high-need areas), and on the bridges,” he said.
“That allows our truckies to do their job safely and for the people around them to feel more comfortable, and frees up the economic benefits that would bring to our shire. It’s so important they get the planning right; spending a little bit to get that right will save a lot of money in the long run.”
