August 7, 2014
Part of the South Burnett Regional Council’s Nanango’s streetscaping project will be going back to the drawing board.
The Council has been forced to reconsider the Drayton Street portion of the CBD redesign project following the installation of street lights at the corner of Drayton Street and the Burnett Highway in May.
The traffic lights – and Department of Transport and Main Roads rules about clearance areas around them – mean planned angled parking bays at the highway end of Drayton Street cannot proceed.
The Council has also run into unexpected difficulties with Drayton Street’s underground infrastructure, as well as water table issues.
These have caused delays in the original project schedule which at first hoped to see work finished by the end of June, then by the end of December.
This week Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said Council still intended to push ahead with finishing off the streetscaping of Henry and Fitzroy streets but would need to make some modifications to its original Drayton Street plans.
He hoped to call a meeting of Nanango’s CBD traders in the near future to discuss the issue and ensure that any revised design met with the local approval before work commenced.
The Mayor said he was aware of frustration in some quarters over delays but was still confident the work could be completed by early 2015.
“We’ll be proceeding on Henry and Fitzroy streets in the near future, and possibly installing some infrastructure in Drayton Street, too,” he said.
“But we’re aware the Nanango Mardi Gras isn’t far away, and Christmas shopping soon after that, so we’ll be trying to work in with Drayton Street traders and users to minimise disruptions as much as we can.”
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Shade sails in the Scott Car Park which were recently broken will be replaced using much stronger welds.
Mayor Kratzmann said that while he had no evidence about what caused the sails to break recently, he thought the most likely explanation was that some children had swung on the shade sail poles.
“They’ve been there for many months now in all sorts of weather conditions, so this strikes me as the most likely cause,” he said.
“But we’ll be putting them back with much stronger welds, and I’m hopeful the problem won’t happen again.”
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