Lorinna Rd shenanigans

Maria Grist … as gleaned from emails sent by various residents in the Lorinna Valley …

On October the14th 2008 after much uproar in the local community, the General Manager of Kentish Council took matters into his own hands and closed Lorinna Road to all traffic, by placing large rocks across it. In the meantime, some person or persons unknown had gated the only other access, the ungazetted southern River Road, effectively isolating the community.

After the uproar from the Lorinna Valley community, the council was forced to remove the rocks and re-open the road.
The shenanigans continue day by day …

More below …
IN July 2008 the Kentish Council proposed that the southern access road to Lorinna (locally known as River Road) be upgraded by widening to 6m, making it a two lane road. This would mean much longer travel times for people at Lorinna. The current access (Lorinna Road, entering from the north) would be closed, as Council considered it unsafe.

Council met on the 28th of July to further discuss the issue, and all but one councillors voted for River Road, with the plan of making it 4m wide with passing bays, and upgraded to 65kph standard. If agreed, this will make it possible for plantations to be established and logging to be started in the Lorinna valley, a process which is very much opposed by the majority of residents in the valley.

A third possibility is a brand new road coming in over the current Botts Road.

Council decided NOT to meet with local residents to discuss the issue, but instead set up a meeting for all ratepayers at Claude Road. Valley residents felt that this was allowing people with very little interest in the debate, to have equal say with those who live and work in the valley.

CSE Tasmania inspected both Lorinna Road and River Road, to consider the costs associated with upgrading the two roads to at least a 20 tonne load limit with adequate sight distances, a width of 4 metres minimum with passing bays of 6 metres width at a minimum of 200 metres distance or where needed (legislated requirements in a bush-fire prone area).

The Lorinna Road assessment priced blasting to widen some corners to provide better sight distance and guardrails on sections supported by rock-walls. The cost came back at $3.25 million for the minimalist option and over $4 million for the mega option which included realigning White Rock Corner.

The report made it clear that if Lorinna Road was to be upgraded, the road would have to be closed for the duration (6 months for the cheap option and up to a year for the big upgrade). CSE advised that River Road would need to be opened to provide for two-way traffic during that time.

The River Road costs were: full upgrade (road width 5.5m with 0.5m shoulders and guardrail on steep dropoff areas) at $1.35 million and a lesser upgrade (cutting to full 5.5m width but pavement to only 4m) at $684,000.

Obviously the lesser upgrade looks most attractive to council. It is by far the cheapest option.

However, the upgrade standard reflects a road carrying fewer than 1000 vehicles per day travelling at a design speed of 65km/hr on the outside of the curves.

Recently a traffic counter assessed that there were approximately 100 traffic movements on Lorinna Road each week. That equates to 7 vehicles per day in and 7 vehicles per day out. This is nothing like the 1000 vehicles per day which the upgraded River Road is designed to take.

Speed signs on Lorinna Road advise traffic to travel at no more than 30 km/hr. The majority of residents do not want a high speed road. The community consists of many people who have come to the area seeking a quieter, calmer and more natural lifestyle. These places have become increasingly difficult to find in a modern busy world and residents are concerned that a new fast road will compromise the unique qualities which this place currently possesses.

The Claude Road meeting took place on Thursday 21 August. A survey of Lorinna residents was presented to the meeting. This survey clearly showed that 66 out of the 67 contactable valley residents preferred the maintenance of the current road over the upgrading of River Road (one wanted neither option). Given the choice of Lorinna Road, River Road or a new road, only four preferred the new road. The presentation and results were a clear indication that there is no local support for River Road.

The Lorinna Road issue has surfaced before, in 1996 and in 2002. In 1996, 80% of residents did not want a new road. After this, the Council continued to maintain the road for 8 years. In 2002 a proposal to create the new Botts Road access was advised against by a planning consultant. There was intense lobbying in the Valley against the Botts Road proposal at that time, and Council abandoned this plan at that time.

Currently Council do not want to maintain the Lorinna road, due to their understanding of the cost issues involved. They are concerned to bring this issue to quick closure. However, others have suggested that money is not the issue here and the Council’s decision is largely politically motivated. (See article in the Advocate Newspaper, Thursday 4th September 2008, page 12). Many believe that the current road is structurally sound and in a condition to be successfully maintained for many years to come.

Cr Tim Wilson led a push to remove the Lorinna road from the debate and go ahead and close Lorinna Road, thus effectively ignoring the wishes of the vast majority of residents.
Council has been inspired to act by fear of liability, due to their current refusal to continue the upgrade of the road. Questions are being asked about the competence of management.

The below motion was put to Council by Councillor Annie Willock in mid August 2008:

Lorinna Road is used on a daily basis by residents and others for access. It is a Kentish Council managed asset. Lorinna Road will continue to be used on a daily basis into the foreseeable future while other access options are pursued. Council has received engineering advice in the past that previous issues with structural elements of Lorinna Road have been due to incorrect maintenance which has resulted in stormwater draining along the road surface and over the outer edge of the road, thereby damaging the structural integrity of Lorinna Road. Previous maintenance procedures have also allowed water to pool in the inside table drain due to blocked culverts, leading to damage to the structural integrity of Lorinna Road.

That council makes available a sum of money to contract a suitable person or business to utilise small machinery to repair the drainage profile of those sections of Lorinna Road that have been the subject of previous neglect by Kentish Council.

The motion was rejected. It seems that the Council are not interested in the community which they are supposed to represent. Council seems to be deliberately avoiding consideration of the drainage issues on the current road in their haste to push the River Road option.

In October 2008, Council decided to act. In early October a sign appeared on Lorinna Road, banning all 5-ton and over vehicles from using Lorinna Road, forcing them to use the longer (ungazetted) River Road, adding to the cost of any works needing to be done in the Valley. However this road is not considered to be as safe as Lorinna Road by local residents.

At around the same time, Council instigated plans to commence work on the Botts Road extension despite there being no funds to complete this project.

On October the 14th 2008 the General Manager took matters into his own hands and closed Lorinna Road to all traffic, by placing large rocks across it. In the meantime, some persons unknown had gated River Road, effectively isolating the community.

After the uproar from the isolated community, the council was forced to remove the rocks and re-open the road.

The shenanigans continue day by day …