Princes Highway workshop refines Gerringong and Berry access options

Community participants and local stakeholders have met with the RTA to identify preferred access options for the townships of Gerringong and Berry.

An RTA spokesperson said the RTA held a two-day value management workshop at Nowra to consider the access options for Berry and Gerringong.

“The aims of the workshop were to assess the performance of each access option against a wide range of agreed criteria, and so identify areas for further investigations,” the RTA spokesperson said.

“The RTA will now consider the feedback received and complete more investigations focusing on economic, environmental, community and other issues.

“It is important to note that the workshop’s outcome is not a final decision on access arrangements. The workshop is one of several factors in identifying the preferred access options for each town.

The workshop recommended that for Gerringong:

• Further investigations focus on the modified G2/8 access option which includes two interchanges allowing all turning movements, one at Belinda Street and one in the vicinity of Rose Valley Road.

The workshop recommended that for Berry:

• Further investigations focus on an access option made up of the northbound offload ramp B2 and southbound onload ramp B8 at the southern end of town and the southbound offload ramp B5 and northbound onload ramps B6 or B7 at the northern end of town.
• The southbound offload ramp B4 should be subject to further investigations.
• Ramp options B1, B3 and B9 no longer be considered.
• Further investigations into modifying B8 to minimise the impact on Mark Radium Park, potentially by relocating the ramp to the south of Victoria Street.
• Investigations into modifying B5 and B7 to reduce the length and impact of these ramps.
• Further investigations into improving the flood immunity of the access options still under consideration, including upgrading the remaining section of the Princes Highway or providing an additional northbound access point in the vicinity of Kangaroo Valley Road/North Street.

“Community feedback, technical reports and field investigations, comments from government agencies and the results of the value management workshop will now be considered in identifying preferred access options for Gerringong and Berry.”

A decision is expected by mid 2009. The RTA will continue to keep the community informed and involved as the Gerringong to Bomaderry upgrade is planned,” the spokesperson said.