WITH the upgrade of the Princes Highway and the planned Berry bypass as well as the prospect of a new bridge across the Shoalhaven River, there is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Nowra to lift the fortunes of its CBD.
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Once Berry is bypassed, it will no longer be the favoured coffee-and-cake stop for southbound holiday-makers; that role will be inherited by Nowra. So it is important that the decades old problem of getting travellers to stop – and shop – in our town is addressed.
One positive step will be the resurrection of plans to establish a botanical garden on the unkempt land on the eastern side of the Princes Highway which is now fenced off and overgrown. A left-hand turn off the highway into a large park would also open up commercial opportunities for one of the city’s hidden treasures, Graham Lodge.
And if a way can be found to purchase the caravan park and incorporate it into the park, access to and activation of the riverfront would be assured. Encouraging visitors to stop and enjoy our best asset, the river, would give them an incentive to explore other treasures, including the showground and the beautiful old Nowra heritage precinct west of the CBD, which offers streetscapes and architecture equal to, if not better, than anything in Berry.
Once visitors realise there is much more to Nowra than what they see from the highway, they will be more inclined to linger and search out places to spend their money.
Work on this vision for Nowra needs to begin in earnest now. With two elections approaching, the groundwork needs to be laid to win funding from the state and federal governments so this opportunity does not pass us by.
