THE development application for a Village Bakehouse along Durham Street has stirred up further calls for something to be done about the "KFC corner".
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The intersection of Durham and George streets, where Bathurst's KFC outlet sits prominently, has been a problem for years and appears to only be getting worse with increased traffic flow heading to newly developed parts of Kelso.
During discussion of the Village Bakehouse DA, which was approved last week, the conversation turned to the KFC intersection and what impact a safety upgrade on the intersection of Durham and Rankin streets could have on it.
Before the bakery is allowed to be operational, either permanent or temporary works (which will later become permanent) will need to be carried out at the Durham-Rankin intersection.
Those works will prohibit traffic from travelling from one side of Rankin Street to the other, and will only allow left turns out of Rankin Street onto Durham Street on both sides.
Councillor Warren Aubin, who otherwise supported the Village Bakehouse plans, said traffic would be pushed through to the Durham-George intersection as a result.
"The problem that I do have is the people down in those other streets, if they are having to coming up to turn left and they want to go another way, we have to address the problem at the KFC corner," he said.
"We are going to be pushing traffic that way, we have to have that corner totally right.
"It's no detriment to this development, it's not their fault that that other corner is absolute rubbish, but we need to get in and get in fast and fix that intersection up because that will cause a little bit of havoc."
At the request of councillors, director of Engineering Services, Darren Sturgiss, explained that the intersection of Durham and George streets had been previously considered by council's traffic committee, with several potential fixes identified.
A lack of money has prevented plans going any further than that.
"Depending upon the option chosen by the council it could [cost] up to a couple of hundred thousand dollars for realigning kerbing and medians," Mr Sturgiss said.
Cr Jacqui Rudge said she would like the project to be costed so councillors could discuss it in detail.