THE Derwent Valley Council has pushed ahead with its controversial traffic management plan for busy Burnett St, New Norfolk, despite widespread opposition.Described by the Derwent Valley Gazette as being part of a $750,000 "mainstreet makeover" (August 20, 2008), the project has seen the dividing of the road and the installation of large concrete planter boxes down the middle.
Opponents say the street is not wide enough to cope with the modifications, especially as it is a busy bus and truck route. Complaints to the council have seen the plan modified, with two planter boxes removed from the section of Burnett St between Pioneer Ave and High St. After a two-week hiatus, the remaining boxes were installed on September 2.
Described as "pots" by the council, these square-shaped pink concrete boxes hold ornamental pear trees and have been placed at intervals along the length of Burnett St from George St to the Lyell Highway (Montagu St). The plan calls for "smaller pots" to be installed in adjacent High St and Charles St.
Are we to understand that Council only 'approved' these awkward and ungainly attempts to 'beautify' the townscape and that the anonymous Valley Vision Board running a "Spatial Town Plan" actually sucked some money from other Government sources to fund it? OMG - what are their next plans then, turning the old RDH oval into a transit centre/multi storey car park perhaps? What a waste of good monies which could be better spent on road maintenance and sensible traffic signage.
ReplyDeleteIf Valley Vision's brains were as big as those boxes then the money wasted on those oversized ugly boxes would have been spent doing up the streets or maybe a mall for the town center... anything but what we now have to now try and negoiate..
ReplyDeleteNot one thought between the lot of them for the poor bus drivers of NN.. Ye Gods lets hope no tourist buses ever come visit NN or the big uglies could wipe the lot out..