Roads into the Bowral town centre will receive a major overhaul if Wingecarribee Council's draft Bowral Parking, Traffic and Transport plan is approved.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The plan is on public exhibition until August 1 and the council is urging residents to have a look at the proposals and make a comment.
Significant changes have been proposed to the northern entrance of the town, with the council trying to take traffic away from the Bong Bong St/Merrigang St intersection, which becomes heavily congested during peak traffic periods.
To do this, the council proposes to modify the traffic signal at the Bong Bong Rd/Station St intersection to enable all movements out of Bundaroo St to Mittagong Rd, Bong Bong St and Station St.
This was expected to transfer some traffic to Bundaroo Street, away from Merrigang Street.
It also involved building a roundabout at the Bundaroo St/Bendooley St intersection and replacing the roundabout at the Bong Bong/Merrigang street intersection with traffic lights.
There would also be traffic lights installed at the Victoria St-Mittagong Rd intersection, as a condition of consent for the new development on the corner.
Parking and the way we park was identified as a significant contributor to town centre congestion.
To help address the lack of parking spaces, some all-day car parks close to the centre would become three-hour parking.
The council also proposes to formalise on-street parking along Kirkham Rd with the installation of proper lighting and pathways, and a lightweight pedestrian bridge parallel to the existing bridge over the railway on Wingecarribee St would also be built.
This would provide 90 all-day parking spaces to help provide some of the estimated 300 parking spaces required to ease parking congestion in town, according to the plan.
The parking changes were noted as a short-term achievable option in lieu of a multi-deck car park that "was required" but, due to the high cost involved, was a long-term project.
The other long-term project in the draft plan was construction of a four-lane bypass along Station Street.
Resident Victor Schweikert has suggested turning Bong Bong St into a one-way street with angled parking on both sides to increase the number of available parking spaces.
People can share views and contribute ideas to the plan in a number of ways, including joining the online forum discussion and attend a public forum in July to observe computerised traffic modelling and discuss proposals.
The plan is available on the council's website at www.yoursaywingecarribee.com.au/bowraltransport or at the library.
Feedback received from the community would be considered before adoption of the final document.
For further information contact the Strategic and Community Development Team on 4868 0888.
