Truckies need somewhere to stop and shop in Narrabri

There are only ‘a couple of places’ on the Newell Highway between the Queensland and Victorian borders where interstate semi trailer drivers can pull up conveniently near a supermarket, says Dubbo-based heavy transport industry advocate Rod Hannifey.

“The most popular place is Narrabri,” Rod said.

The inability of semi drivers to stop in Narrabri and quickly get supplies at Woolies and other shops could be costing up to $100,000 a month in revenue foregone for Narrabri, Rod estimates.

“A lot of drivers like to stop and shop there,” he said.

The answer is to ensure parking spaces are available for semis in proximity to Woolworths.

“We need to have clearly marked, dedicated heavy vehicle parking bays adjacent to The Crossing Theatre, and ideally also a truck-only parking bay in Killarney Street near the RMS offices,” Rod said.

“There is the potential to park semi trailers in the area ahead of the McDonald’s restaurant corner, but those spaces are often taken by other vehicles.

“The parking spaces need to be very clearly marked, signposted and the truck parking space respected by other traffic.”

Rod successfully lobbied several years ago for the allocation of truck parking spaces between The Crossing Theatre and McDonald’s corner.

“There is only really room for one truck, but if lucky we can sometimes get two, but the area has to be very clearly marked ‘truck parking only’,” he suggested.

Other vehicles park there, blocking the semis’ access and drivers’ ability to stop and shop.

“Truck drivers only need to be there 15 minutes,” said Rod.

He has sought the help of Narrabri Shire Council in improving heavy vehicle parking access.

“I asked if we could have the ‘corner warning’ sign moved back a bit because trucks were hitting it as they parked, and council agreed to move the sign back more in towards the footpath,” he said.

“That was good, but the sign needs to go back even further – it is still being scraped as trucks try and park as close to the kerb as they can.

“I also asked if we could again have access to the vacant block behind McDonald’s, and the council did the work some years ago to make it available as a truck parking area, but council has since told me that issues of ‘dust, noise, rubbish and traffic safety’ mean that it won’t be re-opened to heavy vehicles.

“I see that the area now has road base on it, so that should alleviate the dust, and all that’s needed is a few rubbish bins,” suggested Rod.

“And the third issue was provision of some southbound parking spaces between Woolies loading dock and the corner for drivers’ quick access to Woolies.”

However, council advised that allocation of parking outside Woolworths would need to be taken up with Woolies in view of potential impacts on their loading dock and customer parking.

The volume of interstate semi trailer traffic through Narrabri is growing each year, mirroring the importance of the local heavy transport industry.

The availability of heavy vehicle parking in Narrabri is a perennial issue.

Rod has long been an advocate for parking provision in Narrabri, with his representation of semi trailer parking concerns going back to the installation of islands along Tibbereena Street where semis traditionally stopped.

“In improving the parking there for cars, the islands unfortunately mostly removed parking for trucks,” Rod explained.