{"id":298420,"date":"2021-05-05T13:26:12","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T03:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=298420"},"modified":"2021-05-05T13:43:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T03:43:33","slug":"b-double-answers-wait-until-june","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/05\/05\/b-double-answers-wait-until-june\/","title":{"rendered":"B-Double Answers Wait Until June"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An aerial view of the Parkside sawmill on Wondai’s industrial estate, where narrow roads and tight intersections currently make B-double access unacceptable (Photo: Parkside)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Roads portfolio chair Deputy Mayor Gavin Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

May 5, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

The problem of B-doubles being unable to access the Wondai industrial estate may be solved … at least temporarily.<\/p>\n

At Wednesday’s Infrastructure standing committee meeting, Councillors were told industrial estate businesses who need B-double access should contact the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and Council as a first step to see if a temporary permit could be arranged.<\/p>\n

Permits would allow affected businesses to continue their operations as normal until a more permanent solution for B-double access to the industrial estate could be found.<\/p>\n

Infrastructure General Manager Aaron Meehan said Council staff were researching possible solutions and hoped to have a full report for Councillors outlining all available options by next month.<\/p>\n

Mr Meehan said the main problem appeared to be that the industrial estate – which was created by the former Wondai Shire Council more than two decades ago – had never been designed for B-doubles.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This meant the sweep paths for the trucks were very tight, particularly around intersections.<\/p>\n

He said one possible solution might be to make B-double traffic through the estate’s main roads one way and to enlarge the intersections.<\/p>\n

But the cost of doing this would not be known until Council officers had completed a detailed study.<\/p>\n

Deputy Mayor Gavin Jones reminded the meeting Council had already allocated $900,000 towards upgrading the industrial estate’s roads from a $1.9 million grant it had received earlier this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While he believed it was very likely a solution to the estate’s problems would cost more than this, he thought reallocating some of Council’s Works For Queensland grant funds set aside for infrastructure projects could provide a source of funding that would not entail any new borrowings.<\/p>\n

Cr Kirstie Schumacher suggested that since the estate’s businesses were the ones which would benefit from any upgrade, Council should also explore possible co-funding of the road works with them.<\/p>\n

Councillors voted to wait until June’s standing committee meeting when a full report on all possible options had been prepared by staff.<\/p>\n