KAMIKAZE taxi drivers, entire families on a single moped, the sound of shrieking tyres puncturing the air – anyone who has driven in Asia knows what true road chaos looks like.
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Driving in Wagga is sedate in comparison.
But despite our smoother roads, lower traffic volume and enforced speed limits, there are times when navigating our city behind the wheel can feel like a bad day in Bangkok.
Merging onto Marshall’s Creek Bridge in peak hour is a case in point.
The bridge is the very definition of a bottle-neck, forcing drivers to squeeze from two lanes into one in both directions.
On a quiet country road, this would not pose a problem.
But on one of Wagga’s most critical arterial roads, it’s a recipe for bedlam.
And according to regular users of the bridge, it's also a serious accident in waiting.
It is simply unacceptable that a major highway, which connects the CBD with an industrial hub and growth corridor, could present such a failure of road engineering.
Why authorities didn’t widen it when they replaced the old timber bridge decades ago is a bureaucratic mystery.
Motorists get bludgeoned by fees and taxes at every turn – petrol excise, registration, licence fees and more.
They have a right to expect it will be funnelled back to where it's needed most.
And if the bean-counters in Macquarie Street and Canberra don’t think it’s needed at Marshall's Creek, then they need to get out more.