The effectiveness of traffic controllers in Hastings Street over the Christmas holidays was highlighted in Noosa Council’s General Meeting on Monday as part of the discussions on the progress of the Go Noosa traffic strategy.
A resident of Little Cove Cr Amelia Lorentson pushed for council officers to obtain feedback from residents in her suburb to inform the strategy because of the impact on their lives of the traffic congestion in and out of Hastings Street.
It’s our experience traffic controllers are ineffective in controlling traffic and pedestrian flow, she said.
Cr Lorentson said she knew of people who had waited at Noosa National Park until 7.30pm before trying to attempt to leave the area through Hastings Street.
A Council officer told the meeting their statistics showed during Christmas holidays there were 13,000 pedestrian crossing (one every two seconds) each day in Hastings Street. Without traffic controllers it would get to a point where traffic would go nowhere, the officer said.
He said traffic engineers advice traffic controllers to be the most appropriate measure to manage the situation with priority given to buses and pedestrians.
Figures showed a bus travelling from Noosa Junction to Hastings Street took an average of 15 minutes to arrive without traffic controllers and nine minutes with them.
A report on the Christmas Go Noosa strategy revealed a 20 per cent downturn in bus patronage this year with almost 204,000 trips compared to the year prior when there were 245,000 trips with about half of users being local residents. Paid car parking in Lions Park increased in the same period with $93,000 raised in funds from the parking an increase over the anticipated $84,000. The income was shared between Noosa Council and the Lions Club.
Cr Brian Stockwell questioned whether more should be done to find a solution to the ongoing traffic issue.
“Have we become complacent?“ he asked. Have we stopped pushing hard enough to get a solution.
Mayor Clare Stewart said she was heartened by the increased use of the free buses by locals and said there was an opportunity to look at the transport strategy and alternatives.
