By Amelia Willmer
Farming families and business owners in the northern part of the Southern Downs fear that lives could be lost on the area’s dangerously degraded roads.
They also want to know when their area will receive any substantial flood repair funding similar to the $2.2 million allocated to fellow residents at Condamine River outside Killarney.
Each of the families and business owners asked not to be named nor identified by their addresses. Some said they felt uncomfortable, others said they felt afraid, others said they had given up trying to get the council’s attention.
One family fears for their elderly father, 89, who lives alone on a road so damaged it has been closed.
The family claim that an ambulance would have great difficulty getting to him. The response time would be much greater because what once was a 15km journey is now detoured to become a 30km journey.
One business owner described some of the culverts on a major back-road in the northern end of the region as “a bloody death-trap” and “friggin’ atrocious”.
They said the culverts posed a big risk to anyone towing a horse-float or a caravan.
One farmer has to now drive his heavy machinery right through the centre of town because the back-road route he once used is impassable.
Each family and business owner was angry at the damage being caused to their vehicles which included numerous broken windscreens, tyre blow-outs, major dents from rocks flying up, and stone-chips to paintwork.
Suspension and steering needed repairing more often which increased business costs.
Detours meant longer journeys and increased fuel bills.
One summed it up by saying: “The council doesn’t listen and doesn’t care. We’ve written so many times asking for help and all they say is ‘noted’. Some third world countries have better roads than this.”
Another said: “When we had the shire council, the councillors and road manager would go out together once a month and take a look at every road. They inspected what needed to be done and got it fixed. Now, we don’t even have a councillor we can go to. We are treated like second-class citizens but they will still get us at rates time.”
All wanted to know when the council roads around Allora and Goomburra would be earmarked for major repair.
All said they understood that roads were a joint responsibility between local, state and federal governments and that funding was a long process, but none felt the council was listening to them.
Some said they felt angry. Others said they felt miserable and overlooked. Others felt fear of accidents and injury.
Speaking to this newspaper, they said, helped highlight their plight.
This newspaper encouraged them to attend yesterday’s Connecting with Council public meeting that was held at Allora RSL yesterday morning hosted by Mayor Vic Pennisi and his fellow councillors.
We contacted the council for comment.
Director of Infrastructure Services, Gary Murphy, advised residents they could review roadworks plans on the council’s website at: www.sdrc.qld.gov.au/living-here/roads-infrastructure/current-and-future-road-works
“Council officers are methodically working through an extraordinary workload,” Mr Murphy said.
“We have prioritised repairs according to funding arrangements and resource availability.”
He urged people to review the Flood Repair Program on track for Southern Downs – Southern Downs Regional Council (sdrc.qld.gov.au)
He outlined applications in the Allora area which are pending assessment for funding.
These included the Merivale St Culvert, Millars Lane road invert, the Pratten-Hendon Road and Yankee Gully Road.
Total project costs would come to $428,545.83.
He said discussions were still in progress over Kital Bridge with an expected project cost of $177,000.
Unsealed roads submissions were in progress for yet to be completed works, with $200,000 worth of work due for completion by May.
“These projects are from the same funding program as the Condamine River Road,” Mr Murphy said.
“The only difference is they are one financial year later and are not yet fully approved.”
He said the Allora zone, since the start of the 2020 program, had received about $1.5 million on roadworks, the second highest spend in the region.
