Geoff Helisma |

Clarence Valley Council (CVC) will ask Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) to “find a solution” to better manage “Pacific Highway traffic using Centenary Drive [Clarenza] as a short cut”.

Councillors unanimously supported Cr Richie Williamson’s Notice of Motion (NOM), which calls for “measures [to be] in place before the Easter 2019 break”.

Councillor Williamson wrote in his NOM: “Over the Christmas/summer holiday break the amount of Pacific Highway traffic using Centenary Drive was, in my opinion, at an unacceptable level.

“At times the traffic queue trying to enter … the highway on the northern intersection was backed up many hundreds [of] metres onto Centenary Drive,” he wrote.

This, he wrote, “greatly increased the risk” of an accident when traffic re-entering the highway converged with “traffic travelling at 100km per hour.”

Councillor Williamson wrote that residents in the Clarenza area had informed “me of the increased risk for them as local residents” and of “very long traffic queues on the southern entry point off the highway onto Centenary Drive”.

He nominated several “measures that could be considered by the RMS: the use of variable-message signage (VMS), both north and south of Centenary Drive, instructing drivers to ignore GPS and not use Centenary Drive; signage making Centenary Drive for local traffic only; and, possible speed reduction on Centenary Drive”.

Staff’s comment about Cr Williamson’s NOM advised that RMS is “examining options for Centenary Drive”.

“While their concern is primarily about the northern intersection of Centenary Drive with the Pacific Highway, potential options may also assist with traffic management on Centenary Drive,” the report to council stated.