Armidale's under-funded Kempsey Road continued to draw attention last week when Country Labor's candidate for Northern Tablelands Debra O'Brien assured a meeting with local residents at Blackbird Flat that the road would be returned to a "regional" classification if she was elected.
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Ms O'Brien's promise came after she and fellow Armidale Regional Councillor Margaret O'Connor travelled Kempsey Road with Country Labor candidate for New England Yvonne Langenberg to assess its condition, and to meet with local residents at Blackbird Flat.
...scarier than being on the Big Dipper at Luna Park.
- Cr Debra O'Brien
"Driving on Kempsey Road was simply terrifying," said a very relieved Ms O'Brien after returning to Armidale.
She described their ordeal of being confronted by another vehicle while driving on what was virtually a single-lane, precipitous, unsealed road.
"As someone who hardly ever travels on Kempsey Road, it was then I truly understood what it must be like for the locals to live on this road. Day in, day out, with its scary, hairpin section of 42 kilometres," Cr O'Brien said
"Because of the terrifying precipice, Yvonne had to reverse 20 metres down the road until she could find a small niche in the rock-face to squeeze the car into, to allow the other vehicle to pass."
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Cr O'Brien said Kempsey Road was simply very dangerous.
"Locals tell me that ambulances will not attend calls along the steepest sections of the Kempsey Road if the road surface is wet, while the rescue helicopter will only intervene on the request of an ambulance," she said.
"So, it's catch 22 for the locals, because the hefty charge for a privately chartered helicopter is billed directly to the caller."
"Locals were unanimous the road must become, at the very least, a dual carriageway for essential safety reasons. And I know from personal experience that maintenance of this particular road already costs Armidale Regional Council twice as much as all its other local roads combined."
Labor's shadow local government spokesman Peter Primrose endorsed Cr O'Brien's recommendation.
"NSW Labor knows how difficult it is for councils in rural and regional NSW to deal with a disproportionately large number of local and regional roads," Mr Primrose said.
Kempsey Road, as nominated by Debra O'Brien, will be part of the independent roads classification review that will be undertaken by a Daley Labor Government."
