Landowners impacted by the Marshalls Creek Bridge replacement plan say they weren't consulted about a major traffic change put forward in the design.
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Earlier this week, Transport for NSW released their construction dates and design proposal for the replacement of the two-lane bridge, which sits on a busy highway, with a four-lane bridge.
As part of the design, a bus stop currently situated in front of the container deposit will be moved to a new site. Attached emails reveal 102-104 Hammond Avenue was the new address agreed to by the consulted parties - council and Busabout.
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However, business owners at the addresses were not consulted in the planning and say they are stridently opposed to the move.
Chris Melmoth owns Murrumbidgee Car Sales at 102 Hammond Avenue and said removing street parking in front of his site by installing a bus shelter will damage his business. "The bus stop would take every available street park away from my premises," he said.
He said he deliberately purchased the property with highway frontage and street parking because it is well known that car customers do not like to park on site, preferring to have some distance from the car yard.
Next door at 104 Hammond Avenue, owner Noel Comerford said he hadn't been notified about the proposed bus shelter until he was contacted by The Daily Advertiser on Wednesday.
"I most certainly think everybody should have been contacted who has property in the area," he said "That's common courtesy."
He said it seemed the planners have not familiarised themselves with the area. The business listed at his site in the planning documents, Watertek, hasn't operated on the property since 2019, and Mr Comerford said traffic flow will be impacted by the new bus stop site.
"I just think they haven't done their homework," he said. "With that roundabout and the traffic coming down Hammond into Wagga, it seems ridiculous to me to have a bus stop there and it isn't that hard to work that out."
In a statement, Transport for NSW said a new site for the bus stop is still being decided, despite the new location of the bus shelter being described as "agreed" to in the documents.
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