THEY literally have been the talk of the town recently, with the new traffic lights that have replaced the roundabout at the juncture of Coolum Yandina Rd and South Coolum Rd either loved or loathed.
Traffic signals were recently installed at the Coolum State School roundabout as part of the Yandina-Coolum Road, South Coolum Road and School Road, upgrade project. The upgrades provide three signalised pedestrian crossings at the intersection.
A call out on social media by the Advertiser asking for feedback resulted in a huge response with many people saying the timing of the lights was leading to more congestion and there were concerns over safety for children having to cross the road without the dedicated lollipop crossing anymore.
“Worst decision I’ve seen on the Coast in a while. Has increased traffic congestion when there was none previously. Is making drivers visibly more frustrated.”
“It’s pretty dangerous having all the kids bunched up at the lights in the afternoon and having a little black fence there. It should have bollards. It’s only going to take one person to go through the lights and lose control and smack into the kids.”
“On a Saturday was 30 min wait at 9am, that has never happened before.”
In contrast to this there were comments that could see the immediate benefit of the redesign.
“Went through the intersection this morning early and home this afternoon at 4pm, great both times.”
Member for Ninderry Dan Purdie said that he is aware of the frustration and that the intersection will get better.
“I have been advised that the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) will continue to monitor the signal phasing and adjust them as required to balance safety and efficiency. The Department is also closely monitoring pedestrian access which will continue over the coming weeks,” Mr Purdie stated.
“The old roundabout was built when Coolum had a population of a few thousand and the school was very small and now we have 10,000 residents and over 1,000 students needing to navigate through the intersection of three busy and potentially dangerous roads.
“The decision to convert the roundabout to traffic lights was made by traffic engineers following several rounds of in-depth community consultation over many years with input from Coolum State School.”
Deputy President and member of the Coolum State School’s P&C for more than 10 years Shane Urban, thanked the council and state government for their collaboration over many years to bring this solution to fruition.
“Our priority is and always will be the safety of our children and I am grateful that finally this controlled set of pedestrian crossings will safeguard them and other pedestrians every hour of every day, not just during school pick up and drop off times.”
Mr Purdie further stated that the upgrade will improve with time and is the best fit for the intersection.
“It is important to note that these upgrades were called for by the community and recommended by DTMR to make it safer for the hundreds of students and their families to go to and from school, as well as the pedestrians who visit nearby shops,” Mr Purdie said.
“Changes to this intersection forms part of a larger plan to improve the broader road network. The next stage in these upgrades will be Sunshine Coast Council’s construction of the South Coolum Road link to the new interchange at Mount Coolum, for which the state government is funding $40 million to connect to the Sunshine Motorway.
“I would like to reassure the community that as the re-elected Member for Ninderry I will continue to work collaboratively with all agencies involved in changes to our road network to ensure safety and bust congestion,” Mr Purdie said.