Chamber renews call for railway crossing traffic lights
The Peninsula Chamber of Commerce has renewed its call for traffic lights at the intersection of Rawson Rd and Railway St, Woy Woy.
"The Chamber made approaches to Central Coast Council back in April 2019 for the installation of traffic lights at the intersection in a bid to improve safety at the rail crossing without the necessity of spending millions of dollars on expensive underpass or overpass solutions", said Chamber president Mr Matthew Wales.
"There is never going to be a case in the foreseeable future for the replacement of the rail crossing with an overpass at the base of Bulls Hill which proved far too expensive and would never have met the cost-benefit thresholds with a projected cost of $120M".
"It's well past time to accept that a more modest and cheaper solution needs to be considered", said Mr Wales.
"With the existing intersection at the Rawson Rd rail crossing becoming more congested and an increasing safety risk, the Chamber wants the NSW State Government to re-consider installing traffic lights with traffic lights on the western side of the rail crossing".
"The existing rail crossing warning lights and boom gates should be retained as part of major synchronised upgrade of the intersection", he said.
"These improvements would improve traffic flow and safety both during normal traffic conditions and when the rail crossing is in operation.
"This option is increasingly important with the prospect of the Ocean Beach-Rawson Rd intersection due for reconstruction in 2024 with a resulting increase in traffic using Railway St as a bypass route", said Mr Wales.
"Without these upgrade works, the vehicle and pedestrian safety concerns at the rail crossing intersection will increase not only from the extra bypass traffic but with commuter conflicts crossing the rail line heading and returning from the M1.
"The Chamber is extremely disappointed that neither Central Coast Council nor the NSW State Government have made any substantive reply since 2019 to our request for the intersection upgrade", said Mr Wales.
SOURCE:
Media release, 2 Apr 2022
Matthew Wales, Peninsula Chamber of Commerce