As the release of council’s $240,000 transport study draws near, doubts have been raised about the document’s relevance to present-day traffic problems.
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The Integrated Transport Strategy was originally slated for release nine months ago but has been delayed several times to give consultants more time to devise practical solutions to Wagga’s ailing transport network.
While no one outside council has seen the document, which will remain confidential until February 27, the architect of the plan has talked up high density residential in Central to reduce Wagga’s reliance on cars.
A handful of local lobby groups, former members of council’s planning advisory committee and councillors have been given a sneak-peek of what residents can expect from the landmark study.
The only two specific recommendations released were closing the left turn from the Gobba Bridge into Travers Street and installing a set of traffic lights at the intersection of Dobney and Pearson streets.
The document is expected to discourage any further residential development in suburbs north of the Murrumbidgee River – such as Estella and Boorooma – based on the improbability of duplicating the Gobba Bridge.
Committee 4 Wagga (C4W) has long called for plans to duplicate the Gobba Bridge and Glenfield Road overpasses, widen the Sturt Highway at Marshall Creek Bridge, reserve a corridor for a truck bypass and better manage hospital traffic.
C4W CEO Chris Fitzpatrick said without seeing the document, “on the surface the outcome is extremely disappointing because the ITS deals with residential land use more than transport solutions”.
The Wagga Business Chamber – members of which were not invited to the presentation – has lobbied hard for more parks in the CBD to accommodate shoppers, retail staff and business people.
Chamber vice-president Tim Phelps was eager to know whether the document favoured “more free parking or paid parking” and “who would pay”, and fellow board member Colin Taggart stressed “the Gobba Bridge duplication has to be on agenda”.
First-term councillor Tim Koschel stressed no one had seen the “nitty gritty of the report”, but echoed hopes for “some solutions to the issues of today, as well as plans for the next 35 to 55 years”.
