By Abbey Cannan
A Noosa Hinterland resident who has been fighting to get a 2.2km dirt road sealed for 25 years says it’s an ‘accident waiting to happen’.
Alan Deering bought his property on the eastern end of Cooroy Mountain Road about 38 years ago when there was minimal traffic.
“Due to the substantial increase in traffic, and therefore the dust issue that comes with that, I started to lobby Council for the Eastern section to be sealed,” Alan said.
“During amalgamation and after lobbying Lew Brennan and Tony Wellington, Division 12 Crs of Sunshine Cost Council, I received a letter from Cr Brennan on 20 January 2012, stating that Cooroy Mountain Road has been on the wish list of roads, and would be sealed in stages, that would bring a welcome relief to the dust problems.”
Twelve years and many unanswered questions later, Alan is still campaigning for council to upgrade the 2.2km section that remains unsealed and ‘dangerous for drivers’.
After a recent downpour of rain on 2 January 2024, Alan said the corner of Cooroy Mountain Road and Dath Henderson Road was once again covered in gravel.
“The intersection was cleaned on 7 December, that is five days during which an accident was waiting to happen,” he said.
“This is an often occurrence after a downpour. The left hand drain of Cooroy Mountain Road has nowhere to go because there is a 90 degree bend at the bottom and there is no fall in the drain to get the water away. The water and gravel wash over the intersection completely and across Dath Henderson Road, which is a 80kph road.
“This is a serious safety issue, and when bought to the attention of Council, I have been told by a Council officer that it is not a safety issue, it is a maintenance issue. This is an ongoing safety issue that Council refuses to acknowledge. There needs to be money to fix this problem otherwise it’s only a matter of time before someone is either killed or seriously injured. Additionally, there have been several occasions when cars have rolled in this location. I witnessed, two years ago, a car rolled down Cooroy Mountain Road almost coming to rest in Dath Henderson Road, luckily it didn’t roll further, being hit by a vehicle doing 80kph would not be a pleasant scenario. The driver was not injured in this instance.”
Council has a priority planning program for sealing roads, with a strong focus on safety and high-traffic roads.
Noosa Council Acting Infrastructure Services director Shaun Walsh said this allowed council to ensure the best use of available funding.
“The cost of sealing one kilometre of unsealed roads exceeds $1 million, so as a result, budgets for road sealing projects are planned carefully against strict criteria, often relying on state funding, he said.
“Other criteria include roadside character as reconstruction often requires removal of significant vegetation, as well as predicted increase in traffic speed and volume arising from improved road surface.”
Mr Walsh said Council officers have scheduled a meeting with the concerned resident to discus his proposal for sealing Cooroy Mountain Road and to explain the reasons relating to the non-sealed section of Cooroy Mountain Road.
“Any decision to seal a road also requires broader community engagement as many residents like the low key nature of unsealed roads,” he said.
Due to the scale of the flooding and natural disasters in 2022, this has impacted on what’s available for Council’s sealed roads program.
“Priority funding for 2023 and 2024 has been directed to repair existing road infrastructure, with over 100 sites still under repair across the shire to reinstate pre-existing standards, this has unfortunately limited what we can spend on the sealed roads program.’ he said.
To know more about Council’s unsealed roads maintenance, visit noosa.qld.gov.au/downloads/file/4351/management-of-unsealed-roads-fact-sheet
