The project’s current $10 million funding is intended to take it through land aquisition and to the detailed design stage, right up to the point of starting contruction when and if funding for that phase is allocated.

RMS’s Dave Andrews stressed that while the project will be shovel-ready in around two years, it may be then or up to 20 years later before construction begins on the project, which would require $50-100 million in funding.

Mayor Peter Peter and chamber representatives are keen to press the issue with state and federal authorities to fund construction on the nearer end of that time-frame. While a bypass has been mooted now for many decades (“My father said it wouldn’t happen in his lifetime when in came up in the 50’s and 60’s, and he was right,” Peter Reid said at the meeting), Cr Petty said there’s no going back now after $10 milion has been invested in the design phase.

“From a tourism point of view, it can’t happen quick enough,” Kevin Santin said.

The preferred route or ‘orange corridor’ has intersections coming onto and off the bypass very close to town – at the industrial estate corner in the north and just below Rugby League Park in the south – and that’s considered a big advantage for diverting light vehicles into the CBD.

The route is primarily west of the railway line, with no impact on the Railway Museum or Curry’s Gap State Conservation Area, although 25 landholders are affected. RMS communications officer Jodi Austin advised the chamber that the team has been in contact with all bar a few that she’s having difficulty reaching. While reactions are as would be expected under the circumstances, she said all discussions have been courteous.

The chamber executive now feels it has a two-year timeframe to shape the local economy to minimise the impact of a bypass whenever it may occur, starting with boosting weekend trading when many tourists are coming through. 

The chamber’s Vince Sherry said biannual ‘reclaim the main street’ events could demonstrate to concerned business owners what a truck-free CBD looks like, with reduced noise and pollution. One of these may well be the Peter Allen Festival slated for next year, with negotiations already underway with the RMS in order to accommodate the long lead-time required.

Mr Sherry asked the RMS for any statistics from other bypassed towns like Woologoolga and Taree on the increase in passenger vehicles and decrease in heavy vehicles as a result of a bypass.

Council’s business development manager Harry Botlon said now is the time to undertake marketing and planning to make the town a destination, rather than reliant on through traffic. 

“The chamber is 100 per cent behind this,” Mr Sherry said.

“The two-year time frame is good. We can use this as an opportunity.”

RMS project managers said the bypass corridor is wide enough to allow a number of intersection options, which will be explored for practicality and safety.

A roundabout on the northern end is not possible due to the topology and the proximity of the railway line, but there could possibly be a slip way – similar to the current access – to encourage light vehicles to come into the CBD.

At the other end there’s room for either a roundabout or T-intersection, but council’s Harry Bolton feels if the truck industry has a say it certainly won’t be in favour of the option requiring its drivers to come to a stop.

Mayor Peter Petty said there won’t be any fast food chains or other commercial prospects allowed along the bypass to attract through traffic, rather they would be restricted to either end of the corridor, close to town.

While there were concerns expressed that the new Tabulam Bridge may see an increase in heavy vehicle traffic from that direction – still needing to navigate the CBD in order to join the New England Highway – Mr Andrews said the bridge is not the control point for whether trucks take that route, rather the hills and corners.

There’s no need for heavy traffic to come into town from that direction anyway, according to Cr Petty, with a preferable route down Bellevue Rd and out Old Ballandean Rd. A load limit on High St is one option for redirecting such traffic.