A community meeting held on Monday evening saw unanimous support for the FIX IT NOW campaign, which calls for urgent safety upgrades to the Princes Highway south of Nowra.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Ulladulla & Districts Community Forum voted to back the campaign, which was launched by Fairfax Media in March.
Susan Loch, whose daughter Jess died seven years ago in a single-vehicle accident on the Princes Highway near Wandandian, shared her story at the meeting.
Milton Ulladulla Times editor John Hanscombe told the audience the number of roadside memorials on the highway between Nowra and Ulladulla were “astounding”.
“Just south of Wandandian, there is a place I feel almost haunted every time I drive though. Within a few hundred metres, there are three roadside memorials, all of young promising people who we have lost on that stretch of road,” he said.
“It’s not just people like Susan who loses those people, it is the entire community.”
Mr Hanscombe encouraged the community to write to state and federal members and Shoalhaven City Councillors highlighting their thoughts on the condition of the highway.
During his 13 years in the media on the South Coast, Mr Hanscombe said he had watched a “pretty consistent pattern of neglect of the highway south of Jervis Bay Road, with a few notable exceptions”.
“I note Joanna Gash in the room; wonderful work in getting federal funding to fix a terrible stretch we no longer have to confront, which was Conjola Mountain,” he said.
“That was the result of a collaboration of newspapers and Joanna in the early 2000s. We lost too many lives on that stretch of road and it was improved.”
Mr Hanscombe, who drives the highway between Nowra and Ulladulla regularly, said he often witnessed near misses at the Jervis Bay Road intersection.
“Without fail, I come across a couple of near misses at that intersection as frustrated people pull out in front of me. It is just not good enough,” he said.
“We need all sides of politics and all levels of government to put aside their differences, support FIX IT NOW and start to work to fund the proper infrastructure needed for the South Coast.”
He called for a bipartisan agreement on road upgrades, and urged people to identify the areas of the highway they felt needed attention urgently.
To share your thoughts, email john.hanscombe@fairfaxmedia.com.au.