WAGGA powerbrokers are in furious agreement about the urgent need to duplicate Gobba Bridge, describing the arterial as a “nightmare”, “holding up development”.
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It comes amid concerns the highly sought after Bomen freight hub and $5 million Eunony Bridge upgrade will lead to a “de facto bypass”, compounding a bottle neck already struggling to service housing developments in Boorooma and Estella.
Mayor Rod Kendall said council’s $240,000 Integrated Transport Study – billed as the “strategy to respond to population growth” – will imply the bridge is “at its capacity”.
“I’ve been given indicative information the crossing is certainly near capacity if it’s not at capacity already,” Cr Kendall said.
“Light vehicle traffic has really, really increased.
“The traffic study will give us the ability to lobby government with real information to fund a duplication properly.”
Nineteen years after then Member for Wagga Joe Schipp cut the ribbon on the $49 million development, he conceded “every dog has his day”.
“It’s going to be fairly costly to duplicate it, but it should go into the planning stage,” Mr Schipp said.
“Obviously it’s holding up traffic and holding up development.
“There’s been a lot of increased development north of the bridge in 19 years.”
Wagga Business Chamber president Tim Rose was unequivocal about the need to duplicate the bridge.
“If the Riverina Intermodal Freight and Logistics (RIFL) Hub is the inland port we’re hoping it will be, we’ll need to duplicate the Gobba Bridge,” Mr Rose said.
“Any traffic flow going west or south from Bomen will want to go over the Gobba Bridge.
“It would be the final piece in the puzzle of a dual carriageway all the way around around Wagga and it will take the pressure off Edward Street.”
Mr Rose does not want to see the city’s fourth largest industry, education and training, suffer from poor planning.
“The university is something we want to grow and you want students to be able to cycle out there,” he said.
“It’s already a nightmare in the morning and if you start adding more trucks to the Gobba Bridge, it’s going to be a major safety issue.”
A draft $100,000 Roads and Maritime Service study of Wagga’s viable bypass routes is expected to be published later this year.
