Naturally, articles about local roads and footpaths are very rich fodder for such a post.

And so it has proved again after the Western Advocate published an article this week concerning a Vittoria Street resident’s call for a footpath beside the section of Mitchell Highway on the edge of the Bathurst CBD.

Belinda Hussein has twice fallen and hurt herself while walking on the uneven ground that runs beside the highway and believes it is time Bathurst Regional Council rectified the situation.

Of course, she is right – a footpath should be considered vital infrastructure in all residential areas, new and old.

The good news is, council is aware of the problem. The bad news is, there is no easy – or affordable – solution in sight.

When we put out the question on social media asking what other areas of Bathurst needed to have footpaths installed now, we were given plenty of suggestions.

There’s the area at the top of Rocket Street that is home to plenty of young families who are forced to walk on the road because it is the only level surface.

There is Eleven Mile Drive where cyclists and pedestrians have to contend with both fog and oncoming traffic.

There are housing developments in Kelso where kids walking to school have the choice of the road or a muddy verge when it rains. There’s Alexander Street, Eglinton; Ilumba Way and Tandoora Street, Kelso; South Bathurst; Raglan …

Residents in all these areas have a legitimate claim to have their street earmarked for the next rollout of footpaths, but they can’t all be successful.

Council last year set aside $100,000 in its budget for footpaths, but that is simply a drop in the ocean.

That money will not come close to meeting the cost of repairing the cracked and broken footpaths we already have, let alone funding new footpaths.

But the issue is too important to be cast aside as too hard. Residents in all these areas pay their rates and have as much right to a footpath as other parts of the city.

Too little has happened for too long. Let’s not wait until someone is killed before taking the issue more seriously.