This doesn't really come as much of a surprise when you look at where the streets run. Moulder Street is the main arterial route linking Orange's south-west (including the hospital precinct and Cadia) to the northern and western roads to Canowindra, Forbes and Molong if you want to avoid the CBD - and don't we all.

Then, when you consider the section of Moulder Street from Woodward Street to Sale Street (which is the first point where a driver may have to give way by virtue of the pedestrian crossing), there isn't much to differentiate it from a drag-strip. Over a kilometre of straight, wide, uninterrupted bitumen that would have had Orange's own racing legend John 'Jack' Brabham salivating.

It's honestly a surprise there aren't more serious incidents.

It's great that the need for a southern bypass or feeder road has been identified. It's also great that works have been underway for the last 10 years and are close to completion. It's a bit ordinary however that Orange City Council have selected to undertake the most important stage of this project, linking Pinnacle Road to Anson Street, as the fourth and final piece of the puzzle. Stage 4 is the only section that actually matters in diverting through-traffic from the Moulder Street rat-run that goes through densely residential areas.

Think about it (and maybe open up Google Maps when you do). Stage 1 between Anson Street and Forest Road just added a connection that already existed along Sharp Road. Stage 2 improved the link from Forest Road to Elsham Avenue by adding a rail bridge, with the existing connection via Huntley Road and Ash Street only hindered by the level crossing (which stops traffic, what, three times a day?). Stage 3 from Elsham Avenue to the Mitchell Highway didn't add anything except for a widening and resurfacing of Blowes Road/Dairy Creek Road.

Stage 4, linking Anson Street to Pinnacle Road, will finally divert a significant volume of traffic that is currently taking Anson Street to Moulder Street to Woodward Street to Molong Road.

I could draw a diagram on top of Google Maps, but their copyright machine would slam a cease-and-desist notice faster than, well, a BT-50 down Moulder Street.

You'll have to settle for something done up on Windows Paint:

Stage 1, 2 and 3 are shown here in green, with Stage 4 in orange. The pink sections are where traffic is no longer passing through because of Stage 1 and Stage 2 (remember Stage 3 didn't actually reroute any traffic as it was just the redoing the existing section of Blowes Road/Dairy Creek Road). The blue section of road represents the current high traffic route from the southern end of Anson Street, through to Northern Distributor - traffic that will be diverted when Stage 4 is finally completed.

In summary, Stage 1 and 2 rerouted traffic away from 1.6 kilometres of road and 44 residential addresses. Stage 3 didn't reroute at all. Stage 4 is really the only stage that would have an impact on suburban traffic, rerouting vehicles from 6.5 kilometres of road that goes past over 450 residential addresses and four schools.

In terms of bang-for-your-buck, there's no denying that Stage 4 is the critical link, and actually provides a significant return on investment for Council and real benefit to the residents of Orange.

There's probably an argument to be made that Stage 4 is the longest or most difficult or most expensive, but in reality it should have been prioritised from the project's inception. The objective of the Southern Feeder, as stated by Council, was to "improve road safety and amenity for all road users, as well as better connect the community of Orange", and 90 per cent of this could have been achieved if Stage 4 was simply done first.

I'm calling this as another example of Council simply doing what's easiest, rather than what's best. It's a pattern that's apparent on issues like water security and urban planning, and now we're seeing it in road safety.