For a South Nowra resident who has been complaining about the state of The Links Road for more than a decade, this is the last straw.
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It is an unsealed road, one of two roads in South Nowra that Australia Post now refuses to send its delivery vehicles along, due to the risk of an accident.
“The street has been known to become degraded after rainfall and can be a safety issue for our drivers,” Australia Post said in a letter declining to deliver a parcel to Rod Foyel.
They have also refused the service to Prosperity Road residents, even after both roads were graded recently.
“That’s an indictment on council,” Mr Foyel said.
“The simple fact that Australia Post will no longer deliver, now finds Shoalhaven City Council derelict of its charter to provide infrastructure ‘Fit for Purpose’ in line with ‘Community Service Obligations.’
“It’s time they seal the road.”
Mr Foyel, who runs a trailer rental company from his The Links Road property, said he’s among local business owners who are fed up with taking an hour out of their days to check mail at the East Nowra post office.
Council argued there are not enough vehicles travelling on the road to justify sealing it.
“At this stage sealing cannot be promised until it crosses traffic count of 150 vehicles per day,” Shoalhaven roads director Tony Fraser said.
“Based on current low traffic volumes, sealing these roads is unlikely to have any broader network benefits in South Nowra.”
Mr Foyel maintains that council counted the traffic on a day the meter wasn’t working properly due to torrential rain.
He believes a sealed road could ease the congestion along the Princes Highway, becoming an alternate route through town.
“Growth in South Nowra has been exponential, traffic is becoming quite busy,” he said.
“Yet council fails to recognise the excess traffic.”
Last year there were two accidents on the road in quick succession.
A car hit a concrete telegraph pole outside Mr Foyel’s home, which caused an 11,000 volt power surge, destroying the electrics in his house.
“We had four young people nearly killed out here a year ago, two weeks after that, another car crashed into a tree 20m from the first site,” he said.
“It’s a blind bend on a dirt road.”
On Thursday he contacted mayor Amanda Findley and ward one councillors Annette Alldrick, Nina Cheyne, Andrew Guile and John Wells in his quest, and awaits their response.