February 4, 2021
A section of one of Kingaroy CBD’s major traffic arteries will be closed for a week.
Alford Street – between Youngman and Glendon streets – will be closed to traffic from 6:00am on Monday, February 8, to 6:00pm on Sunday, February 14.
The road closure has been called by the South Burnett Regional Council so work crews can carry out the first major piece of work in the Kingaroy Transformation Project, replacing underground infrastructure.
The affected portion of Alford Street fronts Kingaroy Shoppingworld and half a dozen businesses on the opposite side of the road.
Shoppingworld customers will still be able to use the complex’s other entrances in Glendon and Markwell streets and the Youngman Streets exit.
Pedestrians will also able to use footpaths to access businesses on the opposite side of Alford Street.
The Council recommends drivers use off-street parking behind the South Burnett Regional Council’s offices or the Glendon Street car park during the week works are being carried out.
With all the roadwork underway on the D’Aguilar Highway just outside Kingaroy it’s a pity they couldn’t see fit to install an overtaking lane on the southbound side of the highway further towards Nanango. One is surely needed. The number of times I’ve been trundling along at a steady 100km/h and been overtaken by someone wanting to go “just a little bit faster” is countless. And yes, I know my speedo is correct because I’ve used an app/gps to confirm.
To overtake a vehicle doing 100km/h in the limited locations available requires the driver of the overtaking vehicle to increase speed to 130 to 140km/h. That’s well over the speed limit. And then they immediately slow down to about 105 to 110km/h and as soon as a identifiable police vehicle is spotted they jump on the brakes to slow down to 100km/h.
The police aren’t dumb. They also drive around in their personal vehicles and see this happening all the time. It would be laughable if it weren’t for the all-to-often accidents.
A southbound overtaking lane somewhere between Coolabunia and Barkers Creek Flat would at least help reduce this behaviour. A fixed speed camera on Barkers Creek Flat would also be welcome.
In the meantime, a few more random radar blitzs along this road would be highly welcomed by the few remaining law abiding road users.