There is no easy way to put an end to the traffic snarls that plague Thirroul, according to resident Murray Jones.
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The secretary of the Thirroul Village Committee, Mr Jones believed the traffic problems flow on from the fact there is one way in and out of the suburb, and that route is a single lane in several places.
He said the traffic problems had been “getting worse”.
“It’s just a matter of the number of residents up here versus the capacity of the road to carry those residents,” Mr Jones said.
“It’s just reached saturation point.”
He said the single-lane pinch points included the northbound overpass into the suburb and railway bridge.
“From the [railway] bridge at Thirroul to Point Street at Bulli, there’s three points at which all traffic must flow through,” he said.
“With those three points, if there’s any road accident anywhere within a kilometre of those points it causes everything to lock up.
“So we have a situation where the whole of the northern suburbs can be locked up by a single road accident anywhere between the bridge and Sandon Point.”
Mr Jones added there wasn’t much chance these pinch points would be addressed in the short term, due to the expense.
“These restrictions are not going to be changed in the next 10-15 years - or probably in the next 50 years,” he said.
“So we’re stuck with this one lane in and one lane out.”
Mr Jones said the other option was to provide another route out of the suburb – both for general traffic and to cope with the possibility of an accident blocking Lawrence Hargrave Drive.
“What we need is a secondary road,” he said.
“We almost had that with the Sandon Point development, that would have provided us with a second way out of Thirroul.”
Wollongong City Council is looking for ways to alleviate the traffic pressures but its efforts are hamstrung by the fact that Lawrence Hargrave Drive – the main road in and out – is the responsibility of the state government.
The council organised a public workshop in Thirroul for Tuesday night with the aim of canvassing ideas for improving traffic flow and using them in discussions with Roads and Maritime Services.
Roads and Maritime Services are in the process of preparing the Thirroul to Unanderra Network Strategy, which is expected to include the traffic-choked Thirroul CBD.
The congestion along the Princes Highway through the Bulli CBD will also form part of the strategy.
The report is expected to be released some time this year.
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
