Letter to RMS, regarding painting and maintenance project, Dawson River Bridge at Cundletown
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I am writing to say that this is a waste of money on arterial bridges in the Manning. This bridge is too narrow for traffic, as shown in an incident a few years ago when a truck became wedged on it and turned the Pacific Highway north and south of Taree, Manning River Dr South, The Bucketts Way and Old Bar Road into a carpark for the entire morning.
Why is that money not being used to plan a future bridge that can service northern towns and villages so they can feel safe crossing the bridge?
The bridge closures are also going to lead to traffic nightmares on the Taree Bypass and Manning River Drive that will cripple the region's transport network in every direction. We are already wasting $25 million to paint Martin Bridge.
An example of this is from my job as a nurse in Manning Hospital Emergency Department. We took a "bat call" from NSW Ambulance that a crew were bringing in a critically unwell patient that we needed to be ready to accept as soon as they arrived. Their estimated time of arrival was 15 minutes. Approximately 40 minutes later, the ambulance arrived.
Asking what the delay was, they couldn't get across the bridge as traffic was blocking it in both directions. Even with lights and sirens, the crew were stuck in traffic with a deteriorating patient from the turnoff at the Pacific Highway, until they got across the bridge.
I know this will happen again, because of the stupidity of people who think they know what our town needs.
Why was the community not alerted about this project a lot earlier? I strongly suggest this project be suspended and actually look at fixing the problem permanently instead of an ugly military grey coat of paint to shut us up until the next election...
Nathan Smith
Taree
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