Concerned residents in Coorabell have repeatedly alerted council to the danger of having no safety barrier on a re-built section of Possum Shoot Road following a land slide in the area around several years ago.
‘There is one part of the road that was fixed up a few years ago with a guard rail but the repair they did on this section of the road is inadequate,’ said local resident Marion Toms.
‘It is near a fairly blind corner where the hang gliders take off and there is an approximately 380ft (115m) drop and a guard rail is an important part of the repair job.’
However, Byron Shire Council’s Manager Works, Tony Nash said ‘Rain events in 2013 caused two landslips on Possum Shoot Road, the repairs of which were completed in 2014 and 2015.
According to council the RMS funding to fix the landslip only allowed them to repair the road to the condition that existed prior to the landslip.
‘Unfortunately there was no guardrail on this section of the road,’ Mr Nash said.
‘The council need to look at how to make this part of the road safer and put in a guard rail,’ concluded Ms Toms.
With many narrow roads in the Shire Mr Nash said that ‘often it is difficult to install guardrails without making the road even narrower as the rails have to have suitable foundations.’
‘When we are looking at renewing roads, Council generally factors into the design, the installation of guardrails where needed.’
Council did not indicate to The Echo if there were any plans to upgrade Possum Shoot Road.
This is like a section of the Pottsville-Mooball Rd.
As the road sweeps to the right there is a steep drop-off with no guard rail. Yet there are guard rails in place along that road where the hazard is nowhere near as bad. I don’t get it.
I sent a message with photos and video to Tweed Shire Council some time ago and apart from an automatic acknowledgement there was no further response. And certainly no action taken!
Are they waiting for an accident to happen there before anything is done?
This road is extraordinarily narrow and has many blind corners. It is a preferred route for Google and Apple mapping services and as a result many drivers unfamiliar with it’s perils use it and abuse it, travelling at unsafe speeds and driving in the middle. It is terribly unsafe and requires the guard rail this article speaks of, not to mention a posted speed limit of 50KPH. This necessity has been brought to council’s attention on several occasions. A beautiful country road being made a disaster waiting to happen by a council looking the other way. What needs to happen before action is taken?