I am writing to you in relation to the lack of a pedestrian crossing in Wallace Street Braidwood, and also the inordinate and I believe unreasonable length of time it has/is taking to replace the crossing that was there and well used by local school children and elderly residents until it was recently  removed due to extensive road works.

I am sure as one of the responsible persons for this project you are aware of the dangerous situation your apparent unhurried application in finishing this important crossing is presenting to the school children and elderly pedestrians I mentioned previously.   I believe your organisation may be flirting with serious and costly litigation if any incident should occur due to the unsafe condition of this well known and used crossing point.   My 30 years as a Police Officer and Qualified Traffic Incident Investigator supports my belief in this regard. 

The Rate Payers and Local people of Braidwood who use or whose children use this important crossing are extremely angry, frustrated and downright incredulous at the apparent lack of interest and alacrity shown by you as one of the responsible persons responsible for completing the project or at least putting in place some temporary safety measures to protect the safety of the general public both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

From the conversations I have had  with the Palerang Council, the RMS and Essential Energy it would appear that all three entities are blaming the other for some hold up or other, a very unprofessional situation in itself.   Excuses such as Applications not submitted or approved by council,    Awaiting lighting plans to be approved etc.   Regulations regarding night time illumination of crossings are sensible in fact, but when the lighting plan cannot be signed off and approved in a timely manner something or someone is not performing his or her duty efficiently.    The current situation here in Braidwood is ludicrous and at best unsafe and counterproductive.  

To remove a local and very well known and used working pedestrian crossing point in order to update the road verge should have immediate safety precautions and a temporary crossing put in place.    A regulation stating the crossing  requires lighting to allow vehicles to see pedestrians at night even though there is already sufficient light from nearby street lights is not only retrospective thinking but at best highlights the regulation as a dud.

If three highly placed individuals cannot plan, implement and complete such an important project such as this in a timely manner then I would wonder if they are able to perform the duties required of them in other areas of their responsibilities..

PLEASE REPLACE THE CROSSING URGENTLY.

Christopher James NELSON

Braidwood.