Suffolk Park group still opposing traffic lights

The ‘Keep the Flow in Suffo’ community group is growing rapidly as residents across the Byron Shire continue to become informed about the Council’s hasty decision to install traffic lights in Suffolk Park.

The group has received more than 1,000 signatures on a petition calling for the council to rescind its decision and immediately investigate a roundabout before work on traffic lights begins.

‘How can that be ignored?’ said group spokesman Dean Prosser. ‘This is the true community’s voice.’

The group has also been working with a range of professionals with expertise in engineering, traffic management, and government who have analysed the reports commissioned by the Byron Shire Council on the Clifford Street-Broken Head Road intersection.

In summary, it appears the knee-jerk approval of traffic lights has been driven by the time restrictions associated with the $1.8m grant, and has suffered from an inadequate understanding of the implications for community safety or delays to traffic.

The group is aware that the primary agenda of this project is community safety, with pedestrians and cyclists a priority. However, there is no evidence that installing traffic lights at the Clifford Street-Broken Head Road intersection will improve safety, but rather has potential to make the situation worse as:

• The intersection is NOT a location used by pedestrians (they cross further east near the shops, and further north near the petrol station and aged care facility).

• If lights are installed, the aged care residents will still have to cross busy Beech Drive to reach the planned path to the traffic lights.

• While the Clifford Street-Broken Head Road intersection was previously a traffic black spot, the cause of the spate of accidents no longer exists due to the removal of the left-turning lane into Clifford Street.

• The pulses in traffic flows into Clifford Street from Broken Head Road imposed by traffic lights will put more pressure on the entry and exit from the adjacent carpark for the Suffolk Park Hotel and shops, imposing additional risks to those using the footpath.

As widely noted in the research, roundabouts dramatically out-perform traffic lights in terms of safety for drivers and pedestrians, largely by slowing vehicles down.

In terms of traffic flows and delays, the detailed traffic modelling study commissioned by Council (Metis, November 2024) reveals the following:

1. A roundabout will be superior to traffic lights by reducing delays as soon as it is implemented (i.e. from current traffic loads through to 2034 and beyond).

2. More critically, the report also indicates that traffic lights will increase delays compared to the current intersection arrangement for most road users at the current traffic loads. Specifically, the modelling shows traffic lights will triple the average delay during peak hours through the study area from about eight seconds to more than 23 seconds with lights.

3. For vehicles exiting Clifford Street, traffic lights will extend delays to much longer than currently experienced well before 2034. The current morning peak hour average delay of about 30 seconds will increase to 50 seconds in 2034 with traffic lights.

4. There will also likely be issues with queuing of vehicles under the traffic light option, with queues of up to 18 vehicles predicted for southbound traffic on Broken Head Road. This queue may extend back to the existing Beech Drive roundabout, and impact movements there.

In response to the above analytical findings, and as acknowledged by Council, a roundabout remains the suitable fix for traffic flow at this intersection. However, rather than being a ‘step in the right direction’, installation of traffic lights as an interim solution will dramatically increase delays, noise, greenhouse gas emissions, and driver frustration. All of this without necessarily delivering any overall benefits to community safety.

Further, as any traffic lights installed would be ‘owned’ by Transport NSW, Council’s ability to modify the arrangement to respond to the issues the traffic lights will create will be delayed and complicated by consultation with the state government.

In three documents attached to the November Council agenda, there was no discussion of a compact roundabout in the space available. The last report was in 2016 (outdated) and only considered a full-scale roundabout that required significant land acquisition. In response, the Keep the Flow in Suffo group suggests the below for immediate consideration by the Council:

• Speed reduction – 40km/h zone, signage, or consideration of chicane islands.

• Seek further info and design of a mini-roundabout solution by a traffic engineer, including sizing and configuration, lighting, and pedestrian safety.

• Consider a trial of a mini-roundabout in this location, potentially supported by a speed reduction – see Lennox trial.

• Report on the provision of a pedestrian crossing north of Beech Drive, and reconfiguration of the entry/exit from the Suffolk Hotel carpark.

• Consider provision of personnel to direct traffic during the morning peak (8-9am) to alleviate the delay times in Clifford Street until a mini-roundabout trial can be commenced.

‘It is clear there has been inadequate consultation with the community regarding options,’ said group spokesman Dean Prosser.

‘There was also a failure to propose interim solutions such as a speed reduction, a trial to consider alternatives such as a mini-roundabout or an alternative pedestrian crossing north of Beech Drive roundabout.’

We welcome all Byron Shire residents to support our agenda opposing the installation of traffic lights and considering a practical trial of more appropriate long-term solutions.