Better signage needed for Gunnedah heavy vehicle bypass

The brick wall around the Marquis Street roundabout has once again been damaged and while this time it was a car there have been many occasions when a semi-trailer has taken out the decorative barrier.

Thinking about it in a logical way, it seems to me that the offending semi-trailers had always been travelling from the west into the CBD and there is a fairly obvious reason why the drivers have been misdirected.

Coming over the new overpass from the Oxley Highway, the large sign in Warrabungle Street directs travellers to the right if going to Tamworth and left for Narrabri and straight ahead for Warrabungle Street.

Any driver unfamiliar with the area would naturally turn right not knowing that the road ahead is an alternative route for heavy vehicles.

It is not until the block before Wolseley Park that there is a non-descript, hard-to-read sign warning “no B-double access or oversize beyond next intersection”.

Now I have never driven anything larger than a 4WD Pajero but I imagine that truck drivers would be focused on the road and any other hazards and could easily miss the warning sign as it blends in with business signs around it.

Before they know it, the semi-trailer driver would be on the roundabout trying to negotiate the bend with a big rig behind. I hold my breath if I see them coming down the main street especially fuel tankers. The catastrophic effects of a rollover are unthinkable.

Meanwhile, at the eastern end of town a very large visible sign gives ample warning that there is a heavy vehicle alternative route directly ahead, along Bloomfield Street, while the sign directing traffic to the left has ‘Town Centre’ written in large letters on a blue background to make it stands out while also indicating that it is the way to Coonabarabran and Narrabri.

I have travelled hundreds of thousands of kilometres around Australia with my late husband Glen towing a caravan and have found that the majority of truck drivers are careful, thoughtful and courteous drivers – so it’s about time the RMS or whoever is responsible for highway road signs gives them a helping hand by placing a sign with decent directions on the western end so that they know to keep following Warrabungle Street instead of turning right and ending up in the CBD.

Marie Hobson, Gunnedah

The damaged brick wall in Gunnedah’s main street, Conadilly Street.

Warrabungle Street signage on the western approach to Gunnedah, which does not indicate access to the heavy vehicle bypass continues on Warrabungle Street.