The Berry of Chamber of Commerce and Tourism have finally met on site with Shoalhaven Council’s representative to discuss Council’s proposed Queen Street upgrade and have been provided plans detailing the intended changes.
In summary, these will include:
See diagrams below.
The proposed raised pedestrian crossings will prioritise pedestrian traffic and therefore significantly impact traffic movement in Berry, as vehicles will no longer have right of way and will need to stop for each pedestrian seeking to cross the road.
Businesses located in the area from Prince Alfred Street to Albany and residents in the adjacent streets will be impacted once the changes are in place. The Chamber is concerned that the changes will result in traffic flow along Queen Street becoming even more congested and the ability to park in Queen Street will be made even worse than it is currently.
In addition, vehicles will start to use the quiet residential streets north and south of Queen Street to detour around the blockage, further impacting Berry residents’ safety and peace.
There has been very little consultation by Council with our Members whose business will be impacted, nor are we aware of any with the wider Berry community.
We are also unaware of any traffic monitoring that has been completed to allow modelling of the potential impacts of the changes on traffic movement in the centre of Berry.
Council is suggesting that construction on these may commence towards the end of this month.
If you have any feedback positive or otherwise it is critical to advise the Berry Chamber of Commerce and Tourism (info@berry.org.au) and the Berry Forum (berryforum@hotmail.com) as soon as possible so that your feedback can be passed onto Council.
Click on any of the images below to access the pdf version which will allow you to see the proposed changes in more detail.