Council persists with underpass plans

Gosford Council is proceeding with plans for a new railway underpass at the bottom of Bull's Hill, South Woy Woy, despite lack of funding.

The plans include a staged reconstruction of Woy Woy Rd between the underpass and the national park.

The council's director of works Mr Stephen Glen told a public meeting in the South Woy Woy Progress Hall last week there was no prospect of an immediate start and it would take a number of years to complete.

Mr Glen and a senior traffic engineer from council presented plans to the meeting showing roundabouts at the bottom of Bull's Hill on both sides of the railway line, as well as at the Horsfield Rd corner.

The road would be realigned at both corners to reduce the sharpness of bends.

The strategy was to slow traffic in the built-up area using appropriate intersection treatments.

A graph was distributed showing traffic volumes increasing from around 4000 in 1984 to just under 10,000 in 1999, with a projected increase to about 15,000 in the next 10 years.

The meeting was told the plans were based on a 20-year projection.

The council did not believe there was a prospect of receiving lump sum funding to allow the work to be undertaken in a single year. The cost and other difficulties associated with a bypass from the Bull's Hill quarry meant that it was not an option.

While the reconstruction was not expected in the immediate future, Mr Glen noted a suggestion from the floor of the meeting to ban right turns from Woy Woy Rd into the existing railway underpass.

It was also hoped that a "value management study" would be undertaken next March as a first step in formalising the plans.

Mark Snell, November 29