Councillor Taylor's suggestion that the Northern Distributor be closed for a week to persuade the state government to subsidise its repair is proactive and sensibly stops short of any move to secede from the state.
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It will, however, impact on Summer Street and the industrial area that the road services.
A compromise might be to restrict the flow of traffic by permanently reducing the speed limit. This would have a financial benefit additional to monstering a recalcitrant state. Greater road speeds increase directional and lateral road stresses when braking and accelerating and navigating through bends and roundabouts.
It must also be allowed that any localised depression in the surface of the road will more speedily become a pothole if hit at higher speeds. Reduce the speed limit and you will reduce the upgrade required of the distributor … and hence the cost.
Alternatively, one might retain the existing speed limit (80km/h) for the section from the Mitchell Highway to Ophir Road, petition the state to upgrade that to highway standards, then drop the speed limit for the remainder to the town limit (50km/h).
This section passes through urban areas, so the reduction in noise and pollution and the increment of safety would have relevance.
There is no need to delay whilst application is made to the relevant authority for a reduction of the speed limit. I believe it is within council's purview to apply a work speed limit to what is, by the state government's own contention, a local road.
Kevin Elvey
HEEDING CLIMATE WARNINGS
I HAVE been reading as much as possible about climate change for many years. I have also written many letters to the Central Western Daily, expressing my serious concerns about global warming and climate change.
Your recent editorial (‘Cool heads are needed in a warming world’, February 11) during days of “extraordinary temperatures” raises a number of very good points.
One such point that I noted was: “our country may not yet be ready to sever all ties with coal as an energy producer, but nor can we think it's OK to simply carry on as we have in the past”.
Surely we must now acknowledge that we have ignored the warnings of climate scientists year after year and recognise the urgency to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible.
The final paragraph in the editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald on February 10 suitably sums up how many of us feel: “After eight years of political expediency across the parliament, Australia's climate change policy is a mess. Voters just want politicians to be truly open to all options that can cheaply and reliably reduce emissions.”
Keith Curry
STOP THE LEAKS BY BUILDING
ORANGE City Council's delay in replacing the Robertson Park toilets is unbelievable, disgraceful and totally unacceptable.
I'm not surprised that someone taken short was forced to urinate in public. At times when visiting Orange and finding no toilets in Robertson Park I've been tempted to go behind a bush. Orange is sadly lacking in public toilets which are available 24/7.
I urge the council to give priority to constructing new toilets in Robertson Park. And they should also establish some 15-minute parking bays near these toilets.
Jan Elder