A SECOND North Griffith intersection will be closed to traffic from tomorrow, compounding the chaos already testing nearby residents’ patience.
Griffith City Council started work on a new roundabout at the junction of Wyangan Avenue and Ortella Street two weeks ago.
The intersection should have been blocked off last week but council elected to leave Wyangan Avenue open for the long weekend.
The closure will clash with the completion of a roundabout at the nearby intersection of Boonah and Macarthur streets, which has been delayed while council waits for an asphalt contractor to be available.
Residents who had already been inconvenienced by the first set of roadworks were frustrated to discover they would have to deal with further detours.
Evatt Street resident Jenny Fisher believed a roundabout was unnecessary at the Ortella Street intersection.
“A good stop sign there would have been quite adequate but, even if they had to put in a roundabout, what I don’t understand is why they didn’t finish the other one first,” Mrs Fisher said.
At present, Ortella Street is closed off at the Wyangan Avenue intersection but the main road is still operating as one lane with portable traffic signals.
North Griffith resident John Knight had developed a strategy for avoiding a long wait at the lights and was willing to put up with further obstructions – as long as it didn’t last too long.
“At the moment I’m trying to judge when the light’s going to be red as I leave home,” Mr Knight said.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to go through a certain amount of inconvenience to get a result.
“I’ve heard rumours that the intersection is going to be closed until Christmas – if it’s that long it’ll be a monumental pain but, to be honest, there are a lot worse things going on in the world.”
Fortunately for Mr Knight, the Wyangan Avenue/Ortella Street intersection is only expected to be closed for six weeks.
B-Doubles will be required to take the alternative route via Jones Road and Lakes Road while other heavy vehicles are asked to avoid residential streets wherever possible to alleviate noise and congestion issues.
Council operations manager Dallas Bibby said the closure was necessary to complete roundabout construction, median strips, pavement works and asphalting.
