IN every town and city there is a long list of local issues destined to keep circulating in the community until something is finally done to fix them.
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We have had our fair share in Bathurst with the long-running saleyards debate, Bradwardine Road extension, Mitre Street roundabout and fight for a return daily rail service to Sydney among the issues that were finally resolved after years - decades, even - of discussion.
Among the issues still looking for a solution are council's plans for the old TAFE building, the proposed southern ring road and just what can be done to ease congestion on the road linking Kelso to the Bathurst CBD.
A new study to be tabled at Bathurst Regional Council might bring us a little closer to an answer for the latter of those problems, at least.
The study recommends making Hereford Street a four-lane road to cope with the large amount of traffic during morning and afternoon peaks, in particular, but also recognising that the population of Kelso will only keep growing as more subdivisions are approved and developed.
The study also calls for a new flood-proof bridge to be constructed over the Macquarie River at the CBD end of Hereford Street and a slip lane at the Gilmour Street end of Hereford Street for traffic turning left.
And all that sounds fantastic (if a little expensive) but, as has always been the case, the sticking point remains what to do with the traffic once it crosses the river.
Building a four-lane road along a floodplain where council already owns most of the land is a relatively simple project; upgrading lower George Street to take all that traffic without creating a massive bottleneck is a different challenge altogether.
Bathurst is already one of the fastest rowing cities in regional NSW and that trend is expected to continue over the next two decades or so.
Council's own planning shows that areas around Laffing Waters will take many of the new homes needed to house this growing population and those new residents will only add to the congestion on Hereford Street.
So any genuine proposal that might ease some of that burden needs to be taken seriously and the findings of this latest study obviously warrant further investigation.
But it still looks to be a long way into the future before we can move Hereford Street from the too-hard basket to the solved basket of local issues.
What do you think?
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