Vincentia Matters secretary Liz Tooley has been spearheading a campaign to ensure one of the most notorious intersections in the region is fixed permanently.
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The local community’s patience with the Jervis Bay Road and Princes Highway intersection at Falls Creek has worn thin.
“Most people see the only solution is a flyover,” Mrs Tooley said.
“The queue on Jervis Bay Road is a complete inconvenience at peak times...the intersection is unsafe to turn out of at the best of times.”
Mrs Tooley said the intersection has become untenable for residents and visitors alike, including those on day trips from Nowra, Kiama and Wollongong.
“Visitors might have had a lovely time in Jervis Bay with the dolphins, but sitting in a hot car with grizzly kids for an hour at that intersection is not the way to start a three-hour trip home,” Mrs Tooley said.
She wonders how long residents and visitors will wait for a funding pledge.
“Do we just have to wait until the fatality rate is unacceptable?” she said.
“Statistics don’t tell the full story, they don’t tell you the result of accidents – there are people that may not have died living with disabilities. After accidents lives turn upside down.”
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Election time is upon us and Mrs Tooley hopes timing may be in their favour.
NSW voters will elect state representatives on March 23, and all voters will elect a federal government on or before November 2, 2019.
Vincentia Matters, a residents’ advocacy group which fought to protect the “old” Vincentia shopping centre, will host a public forum to push for a solution at The Country Club St Georges Basin on November 7 at 7pm.
Nearly all federal, state and local government representatives and candidates invited to attend have responded with a ‘yes’.
Flyers will be dispatched to Jervis Bay and St Georges Basin residents and all members of the public are invited to attend.
At the meeting government representatives will speak, community concerns will be raised, and a petition will be available to sign.
Vincentia Matters will join forces with all Bay and Basin community consultative bodies before the public forum.
“We will have a meeting so we can present a united front,” Mrs Tooley said.
The section of the Princes Highway leading up to the intersection is a 100km/hour zone. Southbound traffic travels on an undulating road, rounding a slight bend before two lanes split – one goes east, one goes south.
Mrs Tooley has heard rumblings the Roads and Maritime Services has plans to install traffic lights to stop southbound Princes Hwy traffic when Jervis Bay Road traffic becomes banked up.
“That would be terrible, terrible for motorists on the highway,” she said.
“What we don’t want is a cheap, interim solution.”