What’s to blame

So, what is to blame? Well, that’s easy for Newsport to answer.

Stacked up street infrastructure at the market end of Ports main thoroughfare.

It’s a triple traffic stopper.

Firstly, the pedestrian crossing over Macrossan Street where vehicles are obliged to stop, then after a very short distance a stop sign at the intersection of Macrossan and Wharf Streets, then straight away another pedestrian crossing across Wharf Street. All reasonable things on their own but combined, create a perfect traffic storm.

Lollypop Solution?

Local resident Warren Hall suggested to Newsport that a lollypop person, similar to the good folk who control traffic at schools, could be in attendance to help traffic flow better “Maybe Council could get each stall holder to throw in a dollar or two and the money could be used to hire someone, but I emphasise it would have to be someone, possibly from Council, who was properly trained,” said Warren. Warrens drinking buddies Bob Francis and Bruce Clarke are also on the lollypop band wagon, however “The bureaucratic politics you have to go through with the State Government is always going to hold things up when you’re trying to find a solution” said Mr Clarke, a former Douglas Shire Councillor. Mr Francis on the other hand wanted to remind readers this is more than just a traffic snarl situation. “This is also about safety because I’ve seen ambulances stuck in traffic with nowhere to go, because they can’t get down a blocked Macrossan Street towards the market and can’t do a U-turn because of cars parked in the middle of the street, it’s a disgrace” he said.

Does Council care?

One gets the feeling they do but their hands appear to be tied with Queensland road safety regulations and traffic laws that are so rigid, they don’t dare be fiddled with. State bureaucracy at work in Queensland. Plus, any changes would have to go out to public consultation and so on and so on. It’s all too hard it seems. Common sense appears to be at a standstill just like the traffic.

In a statement released by Council the Mayor of the Douglas Shire Michael Kerr agrees there’s a huge problem with the congestion on a Sunday during peak tourist season. “While more traffic may be frustrating for some drivers, it is fantastic to see so many people in town after two years of travel disruption due to COVID” he said.

Mayor Kerr told Newsport pedestrian safety is always paramount “The current pedestrian crossing ensures tourists and locals have safe access to Market Park, any treatments to redirect pedestrians, or relocate the western pedestrian crossing, would need to consider road laws, community desire and budget availability” he said.

Ok so citizen Hall, Clarke and Francis’s suggestion of a lollypop person controlling the flow to ease the pain? “Employing traffic control at the site would involve a large volume of complex compliance information and traffic management plans to meet requirements which Council is unable to facilitate at this point in time” Mayor Kerr said.

Sorry fellas, the Council think your lollypop idea sucks. So where does that leave us? Exactly where we were last Sunday and this coming Sunday and the Sunday after that and the Sunday after that. This has been going on for years and looks like it will go on for more to come. Like so many things in this Shire the wheels turn very slowly, just like the traffic down Macrossan Street on the Lords Day. The answer is a pineapple. The lollypop person seems the only scenario that could work at this stage of the game, but it would be interesting to find out if having two pedestrian crossings so close together with a stop sign sandwiched in between is even legal. I don’t have the two weeks needed to find out. Maybe that’s something Council could investigate for all of us.