Residents on Toolijooa Road, Gerringong, are appealing to Kiama Council to provide safety barriers on the recently improved section of their road between the highway and Dooley Road.

Many are worried there will be accidents on this road, especially when the Beach Road end is resurfaced and this country lane becomes an even worse ‘rat run’.

A severe drop-off from the new road’s shoulder means there is no verge for cars or­ bicycles to pull over onto.

“They are battering the edge of the road 1 to 2, which is quite steep. They have piled road base up on each side of the road, but this will crumble away. There are no guard rails and no reflector sticks in place,” says Chris Cafe.

“The road has been raised by 500mm or more in places. When you pull off the road into our driveway, it’s like coming over a little cliff, making it hard to get the car and boat into the property.”

A spokesperson from Kiama Council says there is no plan in their design for a barrier to be installed.

Mal Lambert says that the road, especially during COVID, is a haven for walkers and cyclists.

“It is a fairly narrow road and if you were forced to get off it quickly because a car or truck is coming, where do you go? There is no verge left.”

“I wrote to council to place it on file that we have grave concerns about this road,” says Dianne Cafe.

“I’m worried that one of our cars will get totalled because we have had to run off the side of the road. During construction, a car and a van ended up in the ditch and had to be pulled out.”

Mal Lambert shows how high the new road is in parts

The neighbours point out that this road gets a lot of through traffic to Beach Road, including the school bus, garbage trucks, milk trucks, Cleary Bros trucks and farmers’ tractors, sometimes with silage equipment moving from paddock to paddock.

“The safest thing when it was raining and a big truck or bus came by was to pull half off on the side of the road. But we can’t do that now,” says Mal.

Speed is another significant concern for many residents. A young Nowra woman was killed on this road around five years ago and, according to Mal, the accident investigation unit said she was doing in excess of 130km/hr.

“Speed is my main concern,” says Heidi Presland.

“I rallied years ago to get speed limits on this road down from 100km/hr to 80 and 60 (on the unsealed section) and for double white lines to be placed around the bend near Dooley Road.

“But speeding will get worse when they seal the section down near Beach Road. This road has always been a quick way for tradies to get from Gerringong to Berry and people come flying through.”

According to Mal, a police highway patrolman clocked cars doing 120 to 126km/hr on this road when the highway was being upgraded and traffic increased tenfold.

Barry Campbell says that the greatest problem is the bend near Dooley Road, “It’s already a racetrack but will be much worse when it’s sealed. We need more signs near this bend to warn drivers.”