Councillor voted unanimously for another zebra crossing. Photo Archer Rea.
A motion by Deputy Mayor Paul Cockram and Cr Richard Graham regarding the Roads and maritime intentions for Wallace Street was presented to council last Thursday.
Councillors voted unanimously that “Council request the Mayor and General Manager to write to The Hon Duncan Gay, NSW Minister for Roads and Ports, to ask for his assistance in resolving the issue of a second zebra crossing for Braidwood.”
Cr Cockram reported that Council believes that the Roads and Maritime Services decision to oppose a zebra crossing for Braidwood is mistaken for the following reasons:
1. Braidwood already has a marked (zebra) crossing that has operated without incident for the past 50 years. RMS has stated that it is prepared to allow this crossing to remain.
2. The recent community consultation conducted by RMS resulted in almost unanimous support from the Braidwood community for a second zebra crossing.
3. Braidwood, as a State heritage-listed town needs to preserve the historical vista and feel to its main street. A centre island with high-visibility marker beacons will seriously diminish this amenity.
4. Having two 50km/hr zone shopping precinct crossings where the same rules apply, that is, the cars will stop for pedestrians, will provide safety through consistency.
5. The slight extra segmenting of the through traffic, on holiday weekends for instance, will actually assist parked cars to reverse out of the angle parking and smooth the overall flow through town.
The report continued “The Braidwood Regional Seniors Association has been pushing, since 2001, for another crossing in the main shopping block of Braidwood…Their preference has always been for a marked zebra crossing….
“When the RMS consulted with the Braidwood community in April 2013 it was made clear to them that the preferred option was for a zebra crossing. The RMS people made it clear that all options were on the table but, it seems from what has happened since, that they had decided against another zebra crossing from the outset. It would have been more honest of them to make that position clear at the meetings.”