For the past decade, the Hills Shire Council has failed to address the ever increasing traffic congestion issues that the Kenthurst, Annangrove and Dural residents are experiencing. The significant contributors to the congestion at the Annangrove Road and Kenthurst Road roundabout are:
- the bypass traffic from the new suburbs towards Windsor, and
- the three schools close to the Annangrove Road and Kenthurst Rd roundabout with circa 2500 students being dropped off and picked up in the morning and afternoon.
The Hills Shire Council has acknowledged that there are congestion problems but have not taken any tangible steps to alleviate the problems and the only option that was proposed in the last 5 years is to get the NSW State Government to pay $300m for a bypass from Annangrove/Kenthurst Rd to Old Northern Rd. The Hills Shire Council also acknowledged that considering the previous Liberal State Government was not interested in spending $300m for the bypass, it is very unlikely that the current Labor government will.
Unfortunately, the Council now proposes a study of the problems to produce design options. These design options should have been developed 5 years ago when they proposed the $300m bypass to the state government. Also, as advised by the Council, there is no timeline for this study, nor is there any budget allocated for any proposed remedial works.
The Council must fund tactical options now to provide some relief to the frustrated local residents that are gridlocked in the morning and afternoon because we cannot wait another 5-10 years for something to be done – a Do Noting option is not viable for the residents of the Kenthurst, Annangrove, Dural area.
Please write to the Hills Shire Council General Manager to show that decades of inaction is unacceptable.
Attachments:
- Copy of the letter from Hills Shire Council corroborating the statements I have made in the above article.
- Photo taken at 8:15am on 8 August 2023 capturing the congestion at the roundabout of Annangrove Road & Kenthurst Rd.
- Why Hills Council banks on orbital link to ease bottlenecks (Daily Telegraph – December 2017) https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/hills-shire-times/why-hills-council-banks-on-orbital-link-to-ease-bottlenecks/news-story/4d34fb4922fdb13d133df67791a59f33
- Dooral article in 2020 https://dooralroundup.com.au/traffic-issues-kenthurst-annangrove/
