Lighting for Intersection of Tamarind Drive and Deadman's Creek Road

This has been a hot topic in our community for years. Read on to find out why...

The intersection of Tamarind Drive and Deadman’s Creek Road leads into the Southern entrance of the Ballina Heights Estate and Summerhill Crescent. It is a narrow intersection that is surrounded by drainage ditches, and currently has no lighting. This means that navigating this intersection in the dark and particularly on a rainy night with remarkably reduced visibility holds significant risks. This risk is compounded by the fact that local traffic on Tamarind Drive going to and from the Highway is travelling at 80km/hr and navigating this intersection under the conditions mentioned above has resulted in cars driving into the adjoining ditches trying to avoid on-coming traffic whilst manoeuvring the intersection in poor visibility. Over the last few years, several cars have ended up in these drainage ditches.

The lack of lighting means that this is a dangerous, unlit intersection – no lighting to indicate to ongoing traffic that there is even an intersection, and also poor visibility for those turning off the main road onto a small narrow lane between the two ditches.

The safety of anyone using this intersection has been a priority issue that was first addressed 4 years ago by the Ballina Heights Residents Association Group – BHRAG (now called the Cumbalum Residents Association - CRA). This issue has been consistently presented at the Ballina Shire Council (BSC) Ward B Committee meetings over this entire period of time.

The issue has also been published by the local Ballina newspaper, ‘The Advocate’ with historically little or no response by the BSC other than some support by Ward B Councillors.

Over the years, the BHRAG researched various lighting options for the intersection and an idea was put forward to BSC for the installation of solar powered flag lighting several years ago. Flag lighting is a form of lighting that predominantly indicates an area to have an intersection and offers minimal lighting for visibility as such, but has been shown to be effective in mitigating the risks associated with poor visibility at intersections. This was shown to be a cost effective and viable option, however over several years, the BSC rejected this solution as being not compliant with Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) standards despite a lack of adequate investigation.

However due to public demand, at a late 2018 Local Traffic Committee meeting which discussed the issue, there was finally due consideration given to safety of the intersection. Line markings at the intersection were improved days before the meeting and some more reflectors were installed after the meeting. CRA representatives attended the meeting and highlighted community concerns of safety at the intersection, especially in poor weather conditions.

In mid 2019, a Ballina Shire Council meeting was held where lighting solutions were put forward and CRA representatives presented depositions supporting a lighting solution at the intersection. Various options were considered including full street lighting, grid connected flag lighting and solar flag lighting. The proposals were put to vote by the councillors who voted in favour of a solar powered flag lighting solution to be installed as a trial at the intersection, subject to a prior risk assessment. Thus after all these years, it appears that that this intersection may get lighting – we could say that we can finally see some ‘light at the end of the tunnel’!

This will support in making the intersection much safer to navigate – which of course is great news for all residents and visitors to the estate – and we await for the installation of the lighting to fully celebrate this!

NOTE:

The Ballina Shire Council is particularly interested in using the Tamarind Drive and Deadman’s Creek Road intersection solar flag light as a pilot program or trial, with the idea that if indeed it is effective in mitigating risks associated with poor visibility, this lighting protocol could be rolled out to other rural intersections that require improved visibility at an affordable cost to Council.

That said, many people are also aware that the Australian government has for many years been offering funding to local Councils through a “black spot programme” which is a road safety program aimed at fixing dangerous roads where crashes have occurred. Originally introduced in 1990 it was discontinued briefly before being re-instigated again in 1996. To apply for this funding, specific criteria need to be met such as 2 casualty crashes in 5 years. If you know of other intersections that meet this criteria – please be in contact with the BSC so that we can support the safety of all our roads for residents and visitors alike.

UPDATE: December 2019

Cumbalum residents are very pleased to see that the Ballina Shire Council has now successfully installed the Solar Flag Lighting aforementioned in the Deadman's Creek Road intersection. This has increased visibility significantly and certainly reduced risk of accidents and injuries in the area.

A very big Thank You to Ballina Shire Council as well as all the residents who have supported this to happen - Safer Roads for the community are superbly important!