Hillsborough residents have formed a working party in the hope that strength in numbers can bring action on an ongoing traffic issue which Michael Nolan says has them feeling “captive” in their suburb.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Nolan has lived in Hillsborough for 20 years and said seven years ago he started writing to transport ministers and Roads and Maritime Services to voice his concerns over the intersection at Chadwick Street coming out of the suburb and on to Hillsborough Road.
Until now he has seen little progress but was encouraged by “a pretty productive meeting with around 126 residents” on April 18 at Hillsborough Oval.
He said the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the ongoing traffic safety issue people face when attempting to enter or exit the suburb of Hillsborough with some wait times exceeding 10 to 15 minutes in peak hour traffic.
“We've all tried to tackle the issue individually, now let's jump up and down together and let's see how much noise we can make as a group,” Mr Nolan said.
“It's just jumping up and down loud enough, and getting enough people interested to basically say, well, an entire suburb is pretty much help captive from seven o'clock in the morning, right on through until about 9.30.
“One of the things that was really evident at the meeting was just all of the stories, all of the near-miss accidents that people had either witnessed or been a part of, and just hearing some of the horrific things that have transpired.”
Nolan said they have been waiting for the completion of a RMS study and report into the Hillsborough Road corridor since 2015.
At the meeting the residents decided to start a petition to bring action on the matter and need to get 500 signatures to have the matter brought before parliament.
Supporting the cause is Charlestown MP Jodie Harrison. She has invited the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight to travel to Lake Macquarie to “understand what the issues are”.
“It's much easier for people to see what the problems are if they actually see them and they know that they are real and that people are involved, rather than statistics on a piece of paper,” the Charlestown MP said.