Hervey Bay Gossip

Every Hervey Bay resident who uses Boat Harbour Drive to get from Urangan to Pialba will be pleased to learn that the road is now open in both directions.

The last section of one-way traffic at the Bideford Street end has now been opened fully and the traffic lights on the detour have been removed.

So the new traffic lights on Boat Harbour Drive near the Main Street intersection were turned on today. I seem to recall that we were assurred that they would not hinder the flow of traffic on the Main Street roundabout.

Even Blind Freddy could have seen that as an unavoidable outcome after the lights were positioned so close to the roundabout. And of course every time a pedestrian uses the lights to cross Boat Harbour drive traffic in all directions on the roundabout comes to standstill.

Well done Hervey Bay City Council – I’m sure somebody needed a University degree to not see that mess happening as soon as the lights were installed.

Instant traffic chaos many times a day and all at the push of a button.

That’s right – further work will be carried out on the Maryborough – Hervey Bay Roa, within the Hervey Bay City area with funding provided in the State budget.

The work will include duplication and rehabilitation of sections of Maryborough-Hervey Bay Road in Hervey Bay City to accommodate growth in traffic and the development occurring on the outskirts of the city and within the urban and commercial environs at a total estimated cost of $31.8 million.

… I hate to tell you that it is.

Yes folks the mess that never seems to end at the intersection of Boat Harbour Drive and Main Street is set to get worse.

Premier Peter Beattie announced yesterday that the intersection of Boat Harbour Drive and Main Street here in Hervey Bay has been added to the state’s Safer Roads Sooner scheme. $60,000 has been allocated for the resurfacing of the intersection to improve safety “espcially in wet weather”.

What a thing to look forward to

New traffic lights are being installed on Boat Harbour Drive Pialba between the Main Street intersection and the entrance to the Centro Shopping Plaza carpark.

You will need to exercise some caution as you approach the site because two lanes of traffic is being quickly condensed into just one with very little warning.

The lights being installed are for pedestrians but the site chosen does raise some questions about traffic flow. It’s quite close to the Main Street intersection and it could be that traffic stopped at the lights will bank up back across the intersection.

Only time will tell.

Traffic conditions are set to change on Boat Harbour Drive where the road widening is taking place. The new changes will begin on May 24 and some signs are suggesting that the road could be closed.

Once again a drive around Hervey Bay is turning into a rather time consuming affair as more and more roads become blocked due to roadworks.

Obviously Boat Harbour Drive needed to be upgraded and just as obviously the only way to do it was to close parts of it to traffic but yesterday it all became a little silly when the posted detour for the now closed Ann Street intersection was also blocked by roadwork.

There is also a considerable amount of work going on at the intersection of Denmans Camp Road and Colyton Street and that has reduced the traffic flow to one very narrow lane.

And of course there is also the continuing work along the Esplanade down at Urangan.

It appears that the remaining lane on Boat Harbour Drive will be closed between Ann Street and Elizabeth Street from this morning as road works continue.

If that is the case then traffic heading towards Urangan will be directed down into the back streets between Boat Harbour Drive and The Esplanade.

Detour signs are finally in place at important points along the Boat Harbour Drive detour and that has taken the guess work out of where to go next at the Garden Drive and Robert Street intersection.

If you’re already finding that threading your way through those traffic lights is adding extra time to your journey then be prepared for that to go on for quite some time. The roadworks are not expected to be finished until Christmas.

The inclement weather on Thursday and Friday that deposited a lot of rain on the region also prevented the closure of Boat Harbour Drive. However the road will be closed from today so that work on widening the road between Bideford Street Torquay and Elizabeth Street Urangan can proceed.