Toogoom Rural Fire Brigade

On Wednesday the 5th of August, Toogoom Rural Fire Brigade hosted a community meeting between local residents of Shellcott Street and the Capital Works Department of Fraser Coast Regional Council. The issue was in regards to the massive increse of traffic in the street since it was opened as a throughway between Jeppesen Road and O'Regans Creek Road as part of the development of the 12 Mile Beach Estate. Also the speeds that vehicles travell through Shellcott Street was raised.

A number of options were discussed, including closing the street at one end or the middle, speed humps, chicanes, and making it a one way street. Other issues like sealing the road from kerb to kerb and the removal of the center mounted street lights were also raised.

Issues that needed to be considered were traffic calming device types, acess to existing properties, and the ability for the fire brigade to exit the street during a response. The talk was 'spirited' to say the least, as one would expect when a council meets with concerned residents, but realistic outcomes were presented.

Traffic calming devices called "single lane crossovers" will be implemented (see picture above, this is only an example of the concept and the ones to be installed will be larger and face the opposite way). These effectively block the left side of the road and a driver has to "crossover" to the right, travel through a single lane diagonal chicane and ends up on the left (right) side of the road. Vehicles are effectively slowed down and oncoming traffic has to give way to the vehicle already on the crossover. One of these has been installed at Samurai Drive, Kuwunagn, with great sucess at slowing traffic and reducing the number of cars, without hindering emergency services or service vehicles.

The first of these will be installed in front of the shellcott street park near the fire brigade. This was seen to be a logical spot, as during a response, the appliances have only just left the station and are only travelling at low speed. This also allows the fire brigade to use the hydrant opposite the station as a fill point  again due to the extra room on the road side the crossover will allow.

Two more are expected to be installed in shellcott street although thier position is being studied at the moment due to acess issues.

Also, the center lights/traffic calming that is already installed will be removed and sealing of the road from kerb to kerb will be completed. The works are expected to be started in 8-12 weeks.