Bowral traffic lights at Bong Bong and Merrigang Street draw community ire

Fed up residents have voiced their frustration with traffic congestion at the busy intersection in several letters to the editor and countless Facebook comments.

Readers expressed real concern over the potential they saw for an accident at the new traffic lights.

Several people questioned the lack of green arrows at the intersection, which many agreed would assist the flow of traffic turning right through the intersection, from each of its entry points.

Despite the well-known parking shortage in Bowral CBD, several readers suggested removing the parking spaces along the left-hand side of Merrigang Street adjacent to NAB Bank to allow for a left-hand turning lane onto Bong Bong Street, heading south.

Many Bowral travellers confirmed the view of surrounding business owners, that the traffic lights made it even harder to find parking in Bowral.

While the roundabout enabled drivers to make a U-Turn and access parallel parking spaces on the opposite sides of Bong Bong or Merrigang Streets, drivers are now forced to do a large block through town to continue to look for short-term parking.

Councillor Ian Scandrett, alternate chair of council’s Local Traffic Committee, said it was clear that traffic banked back further and the intersection was considerably worse following the installation of traffic lights.

“There’s still hopelessly poor line marking there, one of the double line centre markings into the intersection from when it was a temporary roundabout – it just shows how lopsided the whole installation was,” he said.

Cr Scandrett said council would build a double-lane roundabout outside the Imperial Hotel to replace existing traffic lights there, as part of the Bowral Distributor Road project.

“We could have had tandem roundabouts and smooth-flowing traffic, but for now at least that’s obviously not to be.”

Now you have to go around the whole block to search for a car park in the Main Street, instead of just a quick lap! Annoying! – Jane Howard

If only drivers knew how to navigate a roundabout lights would not have been necessary. – Jennifer Partington

Bowral is an outright planning disaster, thanks for wasting our money and time. – Ben Bracken