RESIDENTS of Illinbah have petitioned, written and pleaded with Scenic Rim Regional Council for work to be done on Illinbah Road, but feel recent roadworks are dangerous and fall a long way short of what is needed.
“Our concerns are the road and the deterioration of it,” said Mrs Croker.
“I’ve contacted Council multiple times and they’ve come back to me and told me that’s all they can do.”
“Last time I spoke to their roads maintenance team he said he thinks the roads have held up pretty well in the last 12 months given the rain.
“I said, ‘have you driven out here at all, because it’s not good?’.”
The road is a narrow, winding country road with dirt on the shoulders.
Council has graded the edges of the road, but Mrs Croker says this has made the road slippery.
Locals know to move off the narrow road if a car is coming the other way but many drivers are unaware of this practice.
“I’ve had so many near head on collisions,” said Mrs Croker.
“They just don’t react – they don’t know what do to and you have to take your whole car off the road to avoid a collision,” said Mr Croker.
“Sometimes they wave their hands at you – I’m not sure what they are thinking.”
Nicole Krause said her van has almost come off the road several times when she tried to avoid oncoming traffic.
“I’m finding the way the road is now, there’s more cracks, more dirt on the middle of the road rather than the side of the road and as soon as it rains it’s all back to what it was,” she said.
“It’s getting narrower and narrower.”
A number of residents met with Division Three Councillor Stephen Moriarty and Mayor Sharp, with Cr Moriarty saying he is aware of the issues.
“Illinbah Road and Christmas Creek Road, which is a similar situation, are my two main projects in my division which I keep requesting funding for, and keep requesting work on,” he said.
Councillors and Council staff did an infrastructure tour three months ago which included Illinbah Road and Cr Moriarty has taken the new Director of Infrastructure to look at the road.
Cr Moriarty said he would like to see a review of the capital works program so that roads such as Illinbah Road that have deteriorated can be prioritised, but funding is an ongoing problem.
John White pointed out the speed limit is 100 km/h, adding to the risk to motorists.
A change.org petition has been started – visit change.org and search ‘Rehabilitate and Widen Illinbah Road for Safety’.
