Call a public meeting on bridge and bypass

The Editor,

Re: The announcement on August 2 by Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders that the NSW Government will provide Dubbo Regional Council with a special grant of $100,000 to help fund investigations into a bridge for the southern part of the city.

The hundred grand Dugald Saunders has thrown at the mayor is just a smoke screen to try and take the heat out of River Street.

The mayor’s lapped it up, because it’s given him more attention.

There’s no need for a hundred grand’s worth of studies for a southern bridge option.

Council’s had all that info for a decade or more when they made plans for the Tamworth Street bridge.

Tamworth Street is the best option for our next river crossing, in conjunction with a west of city heavy vehicle bypass.

The bypass doesn’t need to have a high-level crossing at Troy straight away. The main thing at present is to get the trucks out of town.

The high-level crossing should be at Tamworth Street. That will take the pressure off the L.H. Ford Bridge, come hell or high water.

There should of course be a high-level crossing at Troy within the next decade.

In the interim, trucks could use the Tamworth Street Bridge-boundary Road-wheelers Lane-yarrandale Road-boothenba Road route during high level floods.

Dubbo Regional Council needs to host a public meeting to show the Government how much opposition there is to River Street.

If the mayor won’t convene the meeting, then John Ryan or Stephen Lawrence should do it.

Dugald and the RMS can please themselves if they attend.

The purpose of the meeting would not be to highlight arguments against River Street, because it’s all in the public arena anyway.

The main purpose of the meeting would be a show of unity and a show of numbers for those disaffected people who feel totally betrayed and ignored by Government.

Steve Hodder,

Dubbo