Chicken run seals it
A COLOSSAL helping of the Colonel’s finest chicken has dished up the best evidence yet that a $2 million road upgrade in Edmonton is money well spent.
The city’s southern suburbs are growing at speed with 50,000 new residents expected to call the area home within three decades.
To deal with the expected massive influx of residents – and to bring it up to modern safety standards – Cairns Regional Council has approved a $2 million upgrade of Mill Rd in Edmonton. Division 2 Cr John Schilling explained Edmonton was a suburb on the rise – and anyone in doubt should just look at the feathers flying.
“People still think of Edmonton being this little town down in the south,” he said.
“Well, Edmonton is now famous.
“Kentucky Fried down there now has the highest one-day turnover in Australia, ever.
“It was the highest oneday turnover of any Kentucky Fried in Australia.”
KFC’s prodigious chook trade is emblematic of the southern corridor’s recent growth, which has stressed existing road infrastructure.
The council’s new project will widen lanes to 3.5m to allow for on-road bicycle lanes of 1.5m in width.
Street lighting will be upgraded, existing bus stops will be replaced and formalised, and a new pedestrian refuge crossing will be built just east of Suhle St.
Hambledon State School will also receive a new children’s crossing on its doorstep, with works expected to begin next month.
The project will cover the length of Mill Rd between the Ravizza Dr and Wiseman Rd roundabouts – currently a sub-arterial, two-lane road.
The works also set the scene for the council’s longterm goal of increasing Mill Rd to a four-lane, median-divided road by 2031.
Division 1 Cr Brett Moller said the work needed to happen.
“It’s particularly noticeable in Division 2 now with the population base around Bentley Park, Mount Sheridan and Edmonton where this additional infrastructure is now required,” he said.
“This is a really busy road ... from the strip development adjacent to the highway where we’ve now got Kentucky Fried, Zarraffa’s to the Hambledon school.”