Old Narrabri Road resident issues heartfelt plea to fix intersection

Old Narrabri Road resident Shane Hatton attended Tuesday’s ordinary council meeting to make a personal plea to Narrabri Shire councillors to fix the intersection of Turrawan and Old Narrabri Roads.

Mr Hatton has lived on Old Narrabri Road with his family for seven months and said there have been three “close calls” at the intersection in that time.

Mr Hatton described the intersection as a “major concern” and said the close calls included a caravan being run off the road by another vehicle, two light vehicles almost colliding, and a truck that ‘nearly took out a small car when it came around the corner’. He said the biggest problem with the intersection is blind spots caused by the structure of the road.

“If you come to the stop sign, you have to go to the right-hand side lane to articulate your vehicle to see traffic coming both ways.”

Mr Hatton said his home is about 400 metres from the intersection on Old Narrabri Road, where there’s a section of gravel. Mr Hatton told the council meeting health concerns, inflamed by the road’s dust, were the catalyst for a decision to recently relocate his son to a boarding school.

“He can’t stand it, he has asthma,” Mr Hatton explained.

He asked councillors to consider including in the upgrade of the intersection an extension of the bitumen road just passed his residence to help eliminate dust issues.

Mr Hatton told Tuesday’s council meeting he understood NSC had been unsuccessful in obtaining funds to fix the road so far, however, he believed a second round of funding had been applied for.

“And I’d just like to know where it is?” Mr Hatton asked Narrabri Shire Councillors.

Councillors thanked Mr Hatton for his presentation, with mayor Ron Campbell describing it as ‘heartfelt’.

“We’ll get that intersection done and as soon as we get some funding, we’ll extend that down,” said Cr Campbell.

Councillors later unanimously passed a recommendation to upgrade the intersection, voting in favour of council noting that the intersection of Turrawan Road and Old Narrabri Road will be upgraded following the availability of grant funding, as a priority, and that council note that works to upgrade 1.35km from the intersection of Turrawan Road on Old

Narrabri Road will be undertaken following the availability of grant funding.

Cr Brett Dickinson also put forward the recommendation that the matter ‘go to the traffic committee to boost it up the line a bit’.

Council estimates the works to bring the intersection up to standard, and additional roadworks, would cost almost $1.7 million.

Councillors voted in favour of the works going ahead as a priority, once there is grant funding available, either from the Safer Roads Program or through other programs such as Fixing Local Roads or Local Roads and Community Infrastructure.

A report, tabled by council’s infrastructure delivery director Eloise Chaplain and presented to councillors before Tuesday’s vote, described the intersection as ‘sub-standard’ and said it did not meet Transport for NSW or Austroads guidelines.

“The acute angle formed by the intersecting road SR017 Old Narrabri Road and the curvature of the through road SR061 Turrawan Road has resulted in several near misses,” states the executive summary.

“Additionally, numerous complaints have been received about dust affecting residents’ health and wellbeing in close proximity to the intersection.

“Action is required to be taken by upgrading the intersection to mitigate the risk.

“Currently council is waiting on the most recent application response from Safer Roads Program.

“In the past, directors have indicated that when the intersection is upgraded the upgrade would continue past the residence to eliminate the production of dust.

“This design has been completed but has not been included in the current or previous budgets.

“Council’s options going forward are to either wait on Safer Roads Program for upgrade to the Intersection and/or, apply for further grant funding for the intersection and approximately 1.3km to Old Narrabri Road.”

The report stated, “There have been signage upgrades, but the intersection remains problematic.

“Thus in 2020 a Roads Safety Audit (RSA) was completed by TfNSW for this intersection which indicated a number of risks rated ‘high’, meaning corrective action should be undertaken.”

The report also noted that to minimise the production of dust, council’s quarry vehicles do not use the road.