A proposal to install traffic lights on Ewingsdale Road – at what councillors described as a location ‘from nowhere to nowhere’ – has been overwhelmingly rejected, with calls instead for a long-overdue masterplan for the increasingly congested corridor.
The signalised pedestrian crossing on Byron’s busiest road was proposed as part of the West Byron Urban Release Area development to satisfy a condition imposed by the Land and Environment Court requiring a safe pedestrian and cyclist crossing facility.
Staff endorsed traffic lights
Council staff had recommended endorsing the crossing at Council’s June meeting ahead of a final sign-off from Transport for NSW.
Instead, councillors unanimously voted against the proposal, asking the developer to seek a modification of the development consent and investigate alternatives, including crossings at nearby roundabouts, a future overpass or underpass, and a corridor-wide masterplan for Ewingsdale Road.
They also noted that very few people currently live in West Byron and that future pedestrian infrastructure should be guided by precinct planning rather than rushed into place.
Cr David Warth questioned the wisdom of placing traffic lights immediately after a roundabout on one of the Shire’s busiest roads.
‘Cars would be coming out of the roundabout, accelerating, and then having to slow down for traffic lights in a very short space of time,’ he said.
‘I think we need to have a look at that whole corridor before we just approve a one-off.’
Deputy Mayor Jack Dods said piecemeal solutions risked turning the main gateway into Byron Bay into ‘a dog’s breakfast’.
‘This is the primary entry into Byron Shire. It should be a cohesive, considered design that these applicants can respond to,’ he said.
‘Traffic lights to nowhere’
Mayor Sarah Ndiaye was even more scathing, likening the proposal to ‘an episode of Utopia’.
‘Popping a set of traffic lights in the middle of nowhere, our first set of traffic lights between two roundabouts in a place nobody crosses, it just seems insane,’ she said.
The proposal arose after engineers ruled out an underpass because of flooding, acid sulphate soils, drainage problems, cost and crime concerns, while an overpass was also considered impractical because of its size, cost and the lengthy wheelchair-accessible ramps required.
Council will now seek changes to the development consent while investigating broader, long-term options for managing what is rapidly becoming one of Byron’s busiest transport corridors.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
