GRIFFITH councillors hope a notorious intersection will be upgraded with extra funds pledged by the federal government.
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Tuesday’s budget announced an additional $400 million nationwide would be invested in the Roads to Recovery program to ensure trucks and other industry can load and cart freight locally in a safe manner.
Councillor Anne Napoli said she hoped that common sense would prevail and allow something to be done about the troubling intersection at Yoogali.
“Hallelujah that so much money has been released for regional roads,” she said.
“We have been lobbying for a number of years to get something done about the Yoogali intersection and if these funds are available I would like to see Griffith City Council put in to get them and do something about it.
“I think that lights would be the most sensible option, I know it’s expensive but you can’t put a price on a life.”
Cr Napoli said council had encountered difficulty achieving change due to the area not being identified as a black spot by government authorities.
“It’s not identified as a black spot because there hasn't been a fatality there in the last six years,” she said.
“To that I say, you tell that to the families who have lost someone – let’s not wait until we lose another life before we take action.”
Roads to Recovery program funding has been more than doubled after Tuesday’s budget with Griffith City Council’s normal yearly allocation increasing by $1.6 million for the 2016-17 allocation, according to chairman of Griffith’s transport committee Councillor Simon Croce.
Cr Croce said that the extra funding would be beneficial to helping make Griffith’s roads safer.
“We’ll be on their case again for sure and hopefully we can get some funding for things like making (the Yoogali) intersection safer,” Cr Croce said.
“Especially being an agricultural area with heavy traffic going through all the time, something needs to be done. It’s a big job, but we’re chipping away at it and hopefully we can do something sooner rather than later and we can get these trucks out of town.”