Dear Editor,

I have lived in Tinonee for the last 15 years all of which have been in retirement.

At the start, I would go to Taree early to get any necessary supplies, transact business or visit service people.

This activity of mine ceased after a few weeks. I could not believe the traffic chaos around the start of the working day for most. Vehicles travelling from the south, backed up to the Purfleet roundabout and beyond.

The Masters roundabout has not made matters any better, some may argue, it has made the situation worse.

Move on 15 years and unfortunately the traffic jam is still woeful, if not worse.

The only redeeming feature that is apparent, is the peaceful nature of the majority of country folk who put up with this situation morning after morning.

How pathetic of our leaders in main roads and council, not to have come up with a solution to the problem in all this time, (and probably even longer).

Now a solution, may be easy or may be difficult, but here is one which I have mentioned to a couple of councillors over the years.

Turn off the right-hand turn arrow into Victoria Street and the lights to cross Commerce St (Wingham Rd) between 7 am and 9.30 am as well as 3.30 pm to 6 pm

Erect suitable signage 

Build a U-Turn bay in front of the old Fruit Market, to enable cars that enter Victoria Street heading towards the bridge, during these time, a way to turn around.

Advantages.

There are numerous roads for drivers to turn right up to High Street to enable organised dispersion of traffic into the Taree shopping and business district. 

Traffic coming from south on Victoria Street have ample routes to avoid the lights at the bridge.

 Cars that inadvertently end up in Victoria Street near Rivers can use the U-Turn to find an alternate route to Wingham Road.

Certainly, productivity would increase with commuters not in their cars for inordinate amounts of time more than they need to be.

Having cars not moving at a snail’s pace or unnecessarily idling, would contribute our little bit to reducing carbon emissions and positively impacting climate change.

Over the years we have had intermittent changes to the way we drive, initiated through signage.

50 Kilometres per hour in designated built up areas.

40 KPH in the vicinity of school zones from 8 to 9.30 am and 2.30 to 4 pm.

No parking in designated areas for part of the day.

Various other rules have been accepted readily by the driving public.

It would not take long for people to become familiar with the proposed changes.

I think that short term disruptions to traffic would be inconsequential. 

I believe that this proposal, is worthy of consideration.

Lance Coffey

Tinonee