DRIVERS are venting to the NRMA about the Newell Highway in Dubbo, in particular its “horrible” roundabout.
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One of them insists that getting through the structure on the western side of the LH Ford Bridge is life-threatening.
The roundabout connecting Whylandra, Cobra and Victoria streets received a couple of terse mentions in the results of the NRMA’s Seeing Red on Roads survey released this week.
Four survey participants have targeted the Newell Highway in Dubbo, three providing comment.
“Horrible roundabout,” one respondent wrote.
“Too much traffic at this intersection to handle a roundabout, should be lights. Risk your life whenever you try and cross through here.”
According to another survey participant the intersection/roundabout was “too small and too dangerous since most drivers do not understand the meaning of the triangular road sign”.
“It does not mean speed up to beat the others, it means slow down and give way to traffic already in the intersection,” they said.
The Newell Highway’s four lanes went through north, central and west Dubbo “carrying all the north/south road trains”, a third detractor told the NRMA.
“Plus it is a local road also with inadequate (none) pedestrian crossings, traffic lights and speeding limit.”
Other roads in Dubbo that feature in the Seeing Red on Roads results include the Mitchell Highway, the Golden Highway and Macquarie Street.
“Road is only ever patched and is never smooth,” a motorist reported of Dubbo’s main street.
“When there is a problem on goes another patch to give it a quick fix. Very rough on cars.”
Under the banner of Darling Street, the NRMA survey results show dissatisfaction with the roundabout at its intersection with Erskine Street. Exiting lanes of the roundabout were “very narrow” and the road surface poor when it changed from “cement to tar”.
Seeing Red on Roads is considered “Australia’s largest road survey”.
Running across eight weeks, the survey in 2012 has grown by about 50 per cent with 15,500 road users taking part. NRMA director for Western NSW Graham Blight said the results showed that drivers wanted governments to come up with a solution to fix regional roads.
“The fact that we received a 50 per cent increase in the number of votes on last year’s Red Flag survey is a clear indication that motorists are furious over the state of our roads,” he said.
“That’s why we urge the federal government to invest substantially more of the fuel tax back into upgrading regional roads. We pay our taxes and we demand that the benefits be returned to NSW roads.”