June 8, 2011
Australia
Australia
Wind farm traffic cuts up road
Alex Sinnott, The Standard, www.standard.net.au 8 June 2011
Alex Sinnott, The Standard, www.standard.net.au 8 June 2011
Australia’s largest wind farm development is causing traffic headaches for Macarthur residents as heavy-haulage trucks chop up an arterial road.
Some pot-holes along the Macarthur-Penshurst Road are roughly 20 centimetres deep due to a spike in the number of heavy-volume trucks using the route to transport gravel to the windfarm development site.
Moyne Shire will start work today to fix shoulders along a section of the thoroughfare, west of the Gerrigerrup Road intersection where the route narrows to single-lane traffic.
Macarthur farmer Peter Young said he was concerned about the condition of the 35-kilometre road which cuts through the Warrabkook and Gazette districts.
He said he had made a request to Moyne Shire to close the road to through traffic but claimed he did not receive an adequate response.
“The Macarthur-Penshurst Road is classified as an arterial C-road, which means it’s the responsibility of the state government, but I believe local government has a role to play in maintenance,” Mr Young said.
“We’ve had two to three months of wet weather which have created large potholes, some as deep as 200 millimetres.”
His daughter-in-law Jane Young said large trucks using the Penshurst-Macarthur Road has caused extensive damage since work began two months ago.
She said wet weather during summer had corroded asphalt and road shoulders had fallen away, making it harder for traffic to pass on the narrow thoroughfare.
“It’s had an immediate effect,” Mrs Young said.
“The roads have been bad for a while but the damage to the road surface in the last two months has made it quite dangerous.”
VicRoads yesterday said it would increase inspections along the road from monthly to fortnightly to identify any hazards.
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/06/08/wind-farm-traffic-cuts-up-road/