Farcical fence ‘a driving hazard’

A SCENE straight out of Yes Minister is about to make traffic jams even worse on one of the city’s busiest roads.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads has erected a long barrier reminiscent of a pool fence along Sheridan St to deter pedestrians from barrelling across willy-nilly.

Unfortunately, the department did not consult Cairns Regional Council on the design despite the local government being responsible for the median strip’s maintenance.

Infrastructure services general manager Bruce Gardiner yesterday told a council meeting the decision to offset the fence from the traffic islands’ centres was a silly move.

“There’s no way we can get a ride-on mower onto the narrow side of the fence,” he said.

“We’re going to have to close a lane of traffic to get a push mower to push down that narrow side.

“The worst thing is, the narrow side isn’t consistent.

“Sometimes it’s on the east, sometimes it’s on the west.”

It means inbound and outbound lanes at the northern entrance to the city will have to be blocked off every time the turf needs mowing.

“We don’t do work before 9am or after 3pm on the main roads,” Mr Gardiner said.

“But Sheridan St has got 40,000 vehicles going down it a day, so there’s no quiet time.”

Mayor Bob Manning questioned the wisdom of fencing off the island and creating small pedestrian gaps without establishing proper crossings.

He had a near miss with two people traversing the road on Friday night that left him so shaken up that he pulled over and asked his wife Clare to drive the rest of the way home.

“Once someone walks out onto the road, there’s no line markings, no warnings for motorists,” he said.

“What Main Roads has done is create a very dangerous position on Sheridan St.

“The refuges that are there are not refuges — they’re very flimsy, it’s all pool-type fence.”

The project resulted from a DTMR safety review of the Captain Cook Hwy between Florence St and Port Douglas.

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