Blue Mountains News

Meanwhile, the vandalism of traffic calming devices that occurred at Oaklands Road this week has been referred to NSW Police.

Mayor, Cr Mark Greenhill said: “Let me be clear, we take the vandalism of road safety devices as incredibly serious and so this matter has been referred to police.

“The community has been clear in complaints about the new speed humps that were added to the road following reseal works in October.  But a minority of individuals should not be taking these matters into their own hands. Speed humps were installed on this busy road some time ago, in order to improve safety.

“When you consider the profile of the road, given the way the road slopes, it’s now been determined the speed humps can be added in another form, and reduced to 75mm, and still be within Australian Standards. So that is what will now be done.”

The Local Traffic Committee (LTC) yesterday accepted the findings of an external audit of the recently installed speed humps.

The audit recommended various options, and the LTC endorsed the installation of the preferred option to install “Watts Profile Speed Humps” midway down the road.  These types of humps cover the width of the road and are 75mm high.They will be installed by 23 December.

Australian Standards also recommend that the speed be 25km per hour where these types of humps are installed. So new signage will be installed showing the speed limit on the road as 25km per hour.

Vertical delineation devices will also be installed along the full length of Oaklands Road, to ensure vehicles stay on the correct side of the road.

Meanwhile, the fourth hump of the bottom of Oaklands Road will not be changed.

Oaklands Road was resealed in October, after the road was damaged following major flooding events in March and July 2022.  New speed humps, that were in line with Australian standards, were added to the road following the reseal.

In response to initial complaints about the shape of the new speed humps that were 90mm high, Council reduced the height by 10mm.

The shape of the speed humps continued to be a concern in the community, so an external audit was conducted last week in order to determine a plan of action.  This was then endorsed by the LTC.

TfNSW have advised that there was a fatality of a female driver on Oaklands Road in 2002. Speed humps were installed at Oaklands Road following that incident, as a means to slow traffic on the road.