Gobba Bridge delays caused by accidents reignite push for duplication

A car crash at the Travers Street roundabout before 9am on Thursday led to lengthy delays for commuters. City-bound motorists reported delays of up to 20 minutes as alternating traffic crawled across the bridge. 

Committee 4 Wagga chief executive Chris Fitzpatrick said the incident highlighted the need to speed up an upgrade to the almost 20-year-old route.

”It’s unfortunate this crash occurred but it highlights the problems with Wagga’s north-south link,” Mr Fitzpatrick said.

“It’s just under-resourced for a growing city like Wagga.

“We need four lanes of road basically from Glenfield Road right to the university gates and Estella.”

Crashes on the two-lane, 1.2 kilometre bridge have long caused problems for people living in Estella or those heading to Charles Sturt University.

In 2002, a similar crash at the Travers Street roundabout left the bridge closed for an hour as emergency services worked to free two people from a car.

Mr Fitzpatrick said if Thursday’s crash had happened in the middle of the bridge there would have been a “complete lockdown”.

“Once traffic is funnelled in it’s difficult to take any alternate routes to get to where you want to be,” he said.

“As soon as an accident occurs there almost needs to be an automatic reaction from authorities to create on-the-spot diversions.”

Anthony Corbett, a builder who does a lot of work in the fast-growing suburbs of Estella and Boorooma, said he almost got caught up in the delays on Thursday morning but managed to make a U-turn and travel through North Wagga instead.

“Once you hit that roundabout there’s nowhere to go, a bit of warning to take a detour would be a good idea,” Mr Corbett said.

“An early warning system or overhead gantry would be good, so you could take steps to get out of the road.”

A spokeswoman for the City of Wagga said the bridge was part of the state-owned Olympic Highway and while council sometimes helped with traffic management, it was not contacted about Thursday’s accident.