THE developer of Riverfront Plaza, Parmac Property Group, has welcomed the RTA’s decision to keep the slip lane at the intersection of the Pacific Hwy and Belgrave St, Kempsey.

Parmac’s general manager Brian Fitzgerald said it was a welcome decision and one that would be of great benefit to the Kempsey community.

There had been considerable pressure from the Kempsey community to keep the slip lane and once Parmac, which had development approval to remove the exit, threw its support behind the call to keep it the RTA agreed to look into the matter again.

A meeting between the RTA, NSW Police, Kempsey Shire Council and Parmac was held to discuss the changes.

“The developer originally proposed that the left-turn slip lane at the intersection be replaced with a left-turn facility at the traffic lights,” an RTA spokesperson said.

“Under this scheme the two lanes leading off the bridge were retained.

“After concerns were raised from the community, the RTA re-examined the traffic modelling at this intersection.

“The traffic modelling carried out by the RTA independently reviewed the previous studies done by the developer’s consultants.

The additional traffic modelling indicated that the benefits of removing the slip lane were insufficient to justify the cost.”

Council’s Shire Services director Bruce Morris said common sense had finally prevailed.

“Why spend money on something that was only going to make the traffic situation worse, not better?” he said.

“My only concern is that we still need to live with the intersection. It’s rather congested already.”

He said vehicles accessing the new shopping centre car park would not have a huge impact on traffic congestion at the intersection, but greater numbers of pedestrians and cars entering Belgrave St certainly could.

Member for Oxley Andrew Stoner said the RTA’s decision was commendable.

“A number of representations have been made to the Roads Minister voicing the community’s concerns over the plans to remove the slip lane and I am pleased to see the RTA has finally listened,” he said.

“Removing the slip lane would have created major traffic delays on the Pacific Hwy, mainly for northbound traffic especially during peak hour.”

The RTA said it would continue to work with the council to monitor traffic flow at the intersection and carry out adjustments where necessary to decrease congestion.