The Basin residents Liz and Gavin Blackwell, withBy Ed Merrison
DUST, poor drainage and dangerous driving conditions are just some of the problems facing residents of The Basin living on a narrow, unsealed section of road which they say could become unusable in an emergency.
Doongalla Road residents Liz and Gavin Blackwell and their neighbour Janet Watts say they have made frequent complaints to Knox City Council about the road, which they would desperately like to see widened and sealed.
Doongalla Road, which is a paved, two-lane thoroughfare until it splits at The Basin Theatre, becomes narrow and steep until it ends at the Blackwells’ property, with a pronounced camber and steep gutters on either side.
Ms Watts said the road surface was slippery and dangerous, while pedestrians on the road are forced into the gutters when cars pass.
“As a parent I’m concerned for young people driving on the road,” she said.
Mr Blackwell said the drains were constantly blocking up, and another neighbour’s garage was constantly flooding because of it.
“The gutters are just getting deeper and deeper, and as soon as it rains all the gravel gets washed straight into the gutter,” Mr Blackwell said.
Both Ms Blackwell’s and Ms Watts’ husbands have had to drag cars out of the road’s gutters on numerous occasions.
The two women were concerned that cars stuck in gutters could have tragic consequences if an emergency vehicle needed to access one of the properties, which are located in a high fire risk area.
Knox City Council director engineering and infrastructure Ian Bell said the council was aware of dust and drainage problems, but said any responsibility for paying for its construction lies with the residents, who would have to demonstrate a majority interest in taking such a step.
Ms Blackwell and Ms Watts said they were under the impression that the council was supposed to seal the 600-metre upper section of the road when the lower section was constructed under the Federal Government Roads to Recovery program, a notion Mr Bell said was false.
“Council funded the construction of the lower section of Doongalla Road because of the benefit to the wider community. It is an access road to a larger residential area,” he said.
Mr Bell said the upper section was inspected every time an ‘inquiry’ was received, and said maintenance was carried out to ensure safety and accessibility were maintained.
He said the council, which is obligated to apply dust suppressant once a year, had treated the road for dust six times in the past year.
But Ms Watts said the road was totally unsafe and the council was wasting ratepayer money on attempting to maintain the road when it could asphalt it once and for all.
They put dust suppressant down but really that’s just a waste of money because it doesn’t appear to do anything at all, she said.
“My argument would be surely it should be maintained in a reasonable and safe standard. If we had an accident because the road is not maintained properly I would sue the council,” she said.
