Southwest Stockfeeds owner Brian Smith labels planned Olympic Highway changes a 'disgrace'

Transport for NSW released its submissions report this week, detailing changes to the Old Narrandera Road and Travers Street/Moorong Street junctions.

Traffic lights will be installed north and south of the Gobbagombalin Bridge and Travers Street will be realigned.

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Travers Street will connect to the Olympic Highway at a new intersection with traffic lights 200 metres south of the current roundabout.

The decision means access to Moorong Street will be severely limited, with a left-turn in and left-turn out at its northern end. The move means those wanting to head south on the highway would need to use the Kincaid Street roundabout.

This week it was revealed 57 per cent of respondents opposed the proposed changes and Brian Smith, from Moorong Street business Southwest Stockfeeds, is particularly bothered.

"It's a disgrace," Mr Smith said.

"The two-way street out the front of my shop is now going to be a one-way street, so do you think I'm going to lose customers?"

He said there are currently three ways to get to the shop.

"At the moment people can come from Kincaid Street, Travers Street or Estella, [but under the changes] the two main access points will be blocked off," he said.

Mr Smith said it was "disgusting" given his business has been there for "50-odd years".

Even worse, he built a new business next door 14 years ago to prepare for the expansion of the northern suburbs.

"We put a lot of money into this, and here they are going to cut me off at the knees," Mr Smith said.

In its report, Transport for NSW noted members of the community had raised concerns that motorists exiting Moorong Street would be forced to cross the Gobba Bridge and travel several kilometres before being able to turn around and head into Wagga.

In response, Transport has changed its design so motorists can turn around at the northern end of Moorong using a U-turn bay and exit via the Kincaid Street roundabout.

But Mr Smith is unimpressed and believes those responsible for the project "just don't care ... it's a joke".

Instead of going ahead with the new intersections, Mr Smith said they should just put in another Gobba Bridge.

"The biggest problem is you're going from two lanes into one. Gundagai solved their problem. They put a new bridge in [on the Hume Highway] and it was perfect," he said.

Rural Ratepayer Association committee member Keith Holder agreed.

"[The upgrades are] a waste of time," Mr Holder said.

Reflecting on the major traffic jams which took place along the Gobba Bridge during the 2022 floods, he said putting in traffic lights would only create the same problem.

"It's going to manifest the problem," Mr Holder said.

"What the RMS are doing is saving money and trying to put stop lights on the highway, rather than duplicating the bridge, which will fix the whole lot."

But while Mr Holder believes the government doesn't want to do the project due to how much it will cost, he said it will have to do it sooner rather than later as Wagga's north keeps expanding.

Transport for NSW said while the duplication of the bridge was outside the scope of the current project, the proposal had been designed to facilitate it in the future.

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