The engineering department looked at a couple of options for the roundabout, and had them drawn up but the costs came back at about three times the funding received.
- Cr Warren Aubin
AN UPGRADE to one of the city's accident hotspots is temporarily on hold.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Bathurst Regional Council secured $235,000 in Black Spot Funding for the Bradwardine / Suttor Street roundabout in August last year after a series of serious crashes at the site.
Councillor Warren Aubin raised concerns about the roundabout two years ago, but began voicing his concerns again following a spate of serious accidents last year.
He said he was worried it was only a matter of time before someone is killed at the roundabout, which he said was "the worst intersection in the city."
On August 3 he called on council to make the intersection safer, after a string of serious crashes including a pizza delivery rider being knocked from his motorbike.
"It's become the worst intersection for crashes in Bathurst; people just won't slow down," Cr Aubin said at the time.
Having secured Black Spot funding last year, Cr Aubin said at the time he expected safety upgrades to begin in the very near future.
Five months on, work on the roundabout has yet to begin, with Cr Aubin saying it will now have to wait until the initial works at the nearby Mitre / Suttor Street interaction are finalised, to avoid traffic congestion in the area.
Cr Aubin said this week while the upgrade has been given the go ahead and the money is there, council had to revise it's initial upgrade plans due to costs.
"The engineering department looked at a couple of options for the roundabout, and had them drawn up but the costs came back at about three times the funding received.
Cr Aubin said plans for the area have since been revised again and the upgrade remains in the pipeline.
Cr Aubin said he expects work on the roundabout to begin around April, with some of the changes to include concreting traffic islands which are currently painted on the road and changing the size of the centre island, which will alter driver's deflection angle as the enter the roundabout, forcing drivers to slow down.