“We have listened to the concerns raised by businesses, made some minor amendments to plans and the works will go ahead once these amendments are approved,” Forbes Shire Council’s acting general manager Max Kershaw said yesterday, following a second meeting with Rankin Street business owners on planned changes to the Rankin Street pedestrian crossing. 

“We have taken on board the concerns raised, and there will be some minor amendments which will be sent to the RMS (Roads and Maritime Services) for confirmation.”

At Wednesday night’s meeting some of the issues raised include changing the speed limit from a 50km/h zone to 40km/h, the possibility of creating a speed bump and the removal of the corner section which many business owners believe is creating more of a hazard than anything else.

Many of the business owners also said that while extra car parks would be great, they were happy not to have them if it meant they were reducing the visibility of the crossing.

Spokesperson for the Rankin Street businesses, Martin Cahill, said prior to the meeting that after speaking to most businesses, the feeling was that they want the crossing back as it was.

“If it is a speed issue, most of us want it left alone and put a speed hump in instead,” Mr Cahill said.

“I’ve spoken to the RMS who said because it’s a 50km/h zone, they can’t put a speed hump in, you’d have to make it a 40km/h zone.”

At the meeting, Mr Cahill said that many of the businesses believe the shortening of the crossing is more of a safety issue, as it narrows the road, making cars more focussed on other cars coming the other way, rather than pedestrians on the crossing.

“I’ve seen in the last two weeks at least 15 times where a truck or 4WD has pulled up to let a car go the other way,” he said.

“People are focussed on that car going towards them because they don’t want to hit that car. We all want the best outcome, we want to see a safe street.”

In response, council’s director of engineering and technical services, John Zannes, said that one of the features of a curb extension is that it’s a traffic “calm”.

“Most people need to slow down to be able to navigate it,” he said.

Whilst he was unable to go into detail about the changes until they were approved by the RMS, Mr Kershaw did say that the planned works must go ahead in order for the crossing to meet Australian safety guidelines, which at the moment it does not. 

He confirmed that the RMS has received complaints about safety at the crossing and near misses.  

“The key issue here is the safety of pedestrians using that crossing, but there are some other outcomes from this, for example creating additional car parks,” Mr Kershaw said. 

“There is still some disquiet, but this will be proceeding.”

Mr Kershaw was confident that even with the amendments, the works will still be completed by the June 30 deadline to ensure that the government funding to undertake the upgrade remains viable. 

Mr Kershaw also quashed rumours that council plan to eventually turn Rankin Street into a one-way street. 

“We have no intention whatsoever for this council to turn any of the streets in the CBD into one-ways,” he said.

“We’re having consultations with a consultant to come back with a plan to enhance our CBD.”