Alstonville is such a safe and beautiful village but unfortunately Ballina road, the main route into town for all traffic coming in from the east is still used as though it is a highway. The speed limit is 60km/hr but cars shoot along this road at speeds up to what i guess to be 70-80km/hr. I recently had a near miss due to this with my toddler trailer on the back of my bike whilst attempting to cross the road on the way to school.

More and more young families are moving into the area and utilising the schools, preschool, pool, sports fields and shops but Ballina road is a death trap for kids... or any foot or bike traffic! There are no safe crossing spots, cars are often going over the speed limit and there is not a safe route to service bikes. This is not sustainable logistically or environmentally. There is huge potential to make this a more user friendly thoroughfare for the local community to access the pool, shops and school with bikes and on foot instead of cars. At present It is simply too dangerous to use this road as a pedestrian or bike user.

I propose it would be beneficial to:

Build Two pedestrian crossings:

- One by the bus stop near Teven Road

- One by Crawford park to allow easy and direct access to the Pool and Pre-School

Introduce a Bike lane along Ballina Road:

- From Teven Road roundabout down to the roundabout at Main Street. 

Changing the speed limit to 50km/hour along Ballina Road:

- To enable this to be a road all pedestrians can use safely.

I would like to gather community support and feedback to submit this proposal to the Ballina Shire Council for consideration.

This has potential to change the usage of the road and encourage people to feel safe to walk with their children and dogs and ride their bikes rather than driving cars. and create a more safe and wholesome pace for Alstonville as a whole. 

Thank you for reading :)