Independent Review into New England Highway Upgrade (Hampton to Geham)
FINAL SUBMISSION FROM SAVE (Safe Avenue of Vegetation for Everyone)
EXISTING SITUATION
Positives:
- 10 km of straight road with generally good visibility
- Flanked by tall eucalypts, forming an overarching canopy
- An ecologically valuable, biodiverse vegetation corridor
- A drive of high visual amenity and a favoured tourist route
- A sense of place – high country and tall trees – contrast with wide open spaces of rest of highway
- A significantly lower crash rate than adjacent sections*
- Narrow driving lanes (requiring drivers to take more care, possibly contributing to lower crash rate)
- Low traffic volume – and large trucks a very small percentage
Negatives:
- Unsealed shoulders
- Deteriorating surface
- Worn line marking
- Branch fall incidents
* crashes between 2000 and 2009: Toowoomba to Geham 192, Geham to Hampton (project area) 31, Hampton to Crows Nest 83 (Qld Police Disclosure Log 16/02/2010)
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
A modified upgrade should be undertaken, the aim being to enhance the existing safety benefits of the road. Measures to achieve this include:
- Generally maintain current width
- Seal shoulders (this would be a major benefit in terms of both perceived and actual safety)
- Limit ‘upgrades’ to identified problem intersections and ‘accident spots’ (e.g. Geham tip entrance)
- Lower speed limits (80 – 90 kph; 60 kph through Hampton village)
- Re-surfacing, but no major re-grading
- Number of trees to be removed to be in the tens rather than the hundreds
- Preserve all very old trees
- Ongoing tree maintenance program to minimise branch falls
NO widening
NO truck interception zone
NO over-taking lane
NO to 1400 hundred trees being removed
TO FURTHER CONSIDER
- Which intersection upgrades are really needed (given most are dirt roads)?
- Where are turning lanes actually needed (given most are into infrequently used dirt roads)?
- Trees to be removed around property entrances – how many are really needed for safety?
- Hampton village requires master-planning before major road works that would affect its character are undertaken
Relocation of entrance to Geham tip, as well as some form of de-mudding surface or sealing to internal tip roads to prevent soiling of Highway
