A SECOND Riverland council has passed a motion calling on the Federal Government to urgently consider options to make the Sturt Highway more suitable for heavy vehicles, including a potential Renmark bypass.
At its most recent monthly meeting, District Council of Loxton Waikerie elected members unanimously carried a resolution moved by deputy mayor Trevor Norton to support “as a matter of urgency” the duplication of the highway and planning for a bridge at Springcart Gully.
The resolution also called for the potential upgrades to be put on the agenda for the Riverland Local Government Forum.
Loxton Waikerie Mayor Leon Stasinowsky said concerns over the safety of residents in the region had encouraged councillors to adopt the motion.
“It has been brought up at council before about the safety of residents in the main town of Loxton with road trains and B-triples coming right through the middle of town past the high school, Orana, the playground and houses,” he said.
“Then there are also quite a lot of trucks going through Moorook and there have been a lot of residents there who have been quite scared with all these big trucks that have been coming around.
“When they stopped going over the Paringa Bridge they started to come around this way and creating danger, and also damaging the roads.
“The roads haven’t been upgraded to take all these big heavy trucks… the Stott Highway has been deteriorating dramatically since these trucks started traversing the area.
“With this motion, council is saying the Sturt Highway is a national highway and there is a real bottleneck in the Riverland for those big trucks to traverse.
“What we’re saying to the Federal Government is that the Sturt Highway needs to be upgraded from Nuriootpa to the border to account for the heavier traffic, which is only going to grow and become heavier.”
Mr Stasinowsky said councils would leave it to the Government to decide how to fix problems with the highway in the region.
“We’re not saying where a bridge should go, because that is for the Government to work out,” he said. “We’re just saying there is a bottleneck in the Riverland and it needs to be addressed quite urgently.
“It won’t happen overnight – it is something that would likely take 10 to 15 years or more – so they need to get started on it now.”
Mr Stasinowsky said he hoped all three Riverland councils could get “on the same page”.
“All we want is the Sturt Highway to be bought up to national highway standard so that all these big vehicles can traverse that one road,” he said.
“I’ll be pretty disappointed if Renmark Paringa Council doesn’t agree with that.”
Berri Barmera councillors passed a similar motion at council’s January meeting, also citing safety concerns.