Motorists on the Kings Highway will be forced to slow down on either side of Braidwood as part of a multi-million dollar renovation of the route, the NSW Roads minister announced on Tuesday.
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And some of the much loved poplar trees lining the approach to the village are set to face the chop.
Transport for NSW issued a report into safety on the highway suggesting changes aimed at lowering the crash and casualty rates on the route, and Roads Minister Duncan Gay confirmed the government would implement its recommendations in full.
The speed limit for 1.5km on the Canberra side of Braidwood and 2.8km on the coastal side will be lowered from 100km/hour to 80km/hour by mid-year.
Mr Gay said there was no final figure for the upgrades, but millions of dollars would be spent, to be taken from the government’s Road Toll Response Package.
Thirty-eight people were killed between 2000 and 2011 on the Kings Highway
There have been four fatal crashes just outside of Braidwood in the past five years, all involving single vehicles running off the road and hitting trees.
There has been significant local resistance to proposals to remove the poplar trees, which were planted in 1936, but Mr Gay said lowering the speed limit was only part of the solution, and some trees would have to be removed to improve safety on the road.
Mr Gay said it was not yet decided how may trees would have to go.
‘‘As great as it looks, as important as it looks, I have to toss up between protecting the lives of the people who drive there as well,’’ he said.
But Mr Gay said safety fencing for the highway leading into Braidwood would be considered, but the greatest safety problem on the Kings Highway was drivers attitudes, urging all drivers to slow down.
‘‘We will be putting an increased police presence on the highway and we will be using mobile speed cameras there as well, to get people to slow down, the whole key to this is to get people to be patient,’’ he said.
The report recommended a range of improvements to the highway, including improving the road’s alignment, shoulders, line marking and signage.
The report also recommends the government review clear zones, the width of clear space on the side of the road next to traffic lanes, and ‘‘identify options to remove or provide protection from these hazards’’.
Mr Gay said the government planned to improve road surfaces, signs and reconsider speed limits along the route.
‘‘Both speed and fatigue were found to be significant issues on the Kings Highway, half of the crashes involving speed or fatigue involved local residents,’’ he said.
The report found nearly one third of the drivers and motorcyclists involved in crashes on the Kings Highway lived in local government areas along the route, and more than a quarter of crashes resulting in injuries or deaths involved residents of the ACT.
