Locals’ road safety fear

Petition demands action on congestion

FEARS a main thoroughfare in Townsville will only get busier has spurred locals into action, petitioning the council to address traffic concerns.

Residents around a new Banfield Drive development are pleading with Townsville City Council to fix the congestion issues, before a serious crash occurs.

The petition tabled to council on Tuesday cites a concern there would be “many accidents and near misses,” if changes aren’t made on Banfield Drive, a busy thoroughfare connecting Dalrymple and Bayswater roads. The petition states the problem would get worse with more cars in the area due to the Summerset Estate development.

It is a last-ditch effort to find a solution to the traffic woes with the Mendi development already under construction.

Mount Louisa resident John Colee signed the petition and is strongly opposed to the development, having taken the developer and Townsville City Council to court over it.

Now that construction is under way he believes something should be done about the traffic. Mr Colee said drivers waited on side streets off Banfield Drive for about 10 minutes for a break in traffic to get on to the road.

People often use Banfield Drive to skip the major intersections at Duckworth Street and Mr Colee said there was often a steady stream of traffic coming from Dalrymple Road in peak hour.

With 95 blocks planned for the new estate, Mr Colee said traffic lights should have been installed at the intersection of

Banfield Drive and Bayswater Road. “There is going to be a problem here (on Banfield Drive), but the biggest problem is going to be in Buchanan Street,” Mr Colee said.

“As it is now, people do a rat run, they turn into Karanya (Street) and go down Buchanan and come out near Dominos.”

Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said two sections of Banfield Drive had been considered black spots until recently. They said it was “too late” for something to be done about the road issue. The petition claims the Mount Louisa roads were not designed to carry that volume of traffic.

“Residents trying to turn into their driveways and side streets run the risk of being run into every day,” the petition said.

The petition, which has almost 130 signatures suggests three options: lowering the speed to 50km/h or an alternative route. The petition suggests using the causeway crossing at the intersection of

Old Dalrymple Road and Banfield Drive, giving access to Greg Jabs Drive.

Mendi managing director Jeff Doyle said it had engaged traffic assessment consultants in the planning stages and had satisfied all of Townsville City Council’s requirements.

“We don’t want to see any incident on any road, let alone Banfield Drive and we’ve taken every step to ensure we’ve done our bit to avoid that,” Mr Doyle said.

Mayor Jenny Hill asked the CEO, who will be Dr Prins Ralston from December 7, to bring back a report to the council in early 2021.