Plans to fix a dangerous intersection connecting Inverell's two busiest roads have been on the agenda for over a decade, and now work is finally underway to build the solution.
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Inverell Shire Council's director of civil and environmental services, Brett McInnes, said the roundabout planned for Gwydir Highway, Chester Street and Bundarra Road will have tangible benefits for the Sapphire City.
The plan was labelled a "win-win" situation by Phil Mallon, North Coast Petroleum project manager for Liberty Service Station. Despite a few kinks to work out in the beginning, he lauded council staff for a "hugely collaborative" process, which will see the end result benefiting everyone.
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The project has been on council's agenda since 2008, when a traffic study revealed the off-set intersection had "sub-par" performance. In 2010, the project was placed on council's Urban Works Program as a high priority, but progress really took off in 2017.
"We engaged a traffic engineer to have a look and investigate a range of different upgrade solutions... to see how the intersection would best perform," Mr McInnes explained.
Council will be the principal contractor, getting specialist teams in and sourcing local materials when necessary. They plan to get as many pre-fabricated items as possible to speed up construction.
A roundabout was chosen over traffic lights, considering the number of vehicles, their size, the room available, and the "convenience factor".
"It's about projecting the amount of traffic into the future," Mr McInnes said.
"Formal signalisation, even looking forward in 20 to 30 years, wasn't warranted for that site nor did it provide the best most efficient outcome."
From then they examined different roundabout designs, and settled on the best - which was the realignment of Chester Street and the acquisition of the Liberty Service Station land.
With $1.5 million from the Federal Government, and $2.2 million from the State, council will cough up the rest which is estimated to be about $5.2 million.
Both Mr Mallon and his team, and Mr McInnes and his, "worked on how we would achieve it together".
"There was a genuine spirit of cooperation to achieve what council needed, but at the same time to protect our business," Mr Mallon said.
Taking a "leap of faith" by buying five residential lots next door, the state government allowed the petroleum group's application to rezone those lots to build the new Liberty station - with the development application being designed "feverishly" to be ready when the roundabout is finished.
"Now we are in process of designing a highway service station that will benefit the people of Inverell and provide a service station that is first class and meets all environmental standards and offers everything that we've offered in the past," Mr Mallon said.
While the process did cost them "a bit of money" and a fair bit of hard work from everyone, they are currently leasing 13 Glenn Innes Road - as continuing business was top priority.
Demolition of the old service station is currently underway, a process to be followed by the relocation of power, NBN, Telstra, water and sewer services, before construction begins in February.
It's estimated works will continue until November. Traffic management is still being "fine tuned" however Mr McInnes said council will keep residents updated.
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