"Naremburn West" lies between the North Shore rail line and Willoughby Rd. Its northern boundary is the Gore Hill Freeway wall and the southern one is Dalleys Rd. This latter is a favourite rat run described by my friend Bruce as the only toll free route from the M2/Gore Hill Freeway to Mosman and Manly. Waters Rd and Dargan St lie at the heart of this part of the suburb and the residents of both are fed up with the problems associated with commuter parking generated by nearby St Leonards. Waters Rd residents already have a resident parking scheme. Dargan St residents called a very well attended meeting last Wednesday morning (see pic) to put their case for one to Council staff and local Councillors.
On top of this, Railcorp are preparing to refurbish the Ella St bridge (you know, the one with no footpath). It seems they will now install the footpath Council has been requesting for years so that's a good thing. However the residents of Dalleys, Waters and Park have become justifiably anxious about the displacement effect of closing the bridge on their already crowded and very narrow streets.
At the Naremburn Progress Association meeeting last Thursday, the bridge closure generated a lively discussion of the options. It was suggested that rather than tinkering with the current resident parking scheme in Waters Rd, we might trial closure of BOTH bridges (Lambs Rd and Ella St) for the period of the reconstruction. That would mean the only routes in and out of this part of the suburb would be via Willoughby Rd (Rohan and Dalleys Rds). A majority of those present supported the idea of trialling closure of both bridges and called for a public meeting to test the reaction of a wider group of the local community.
The old timers amongst us remember this proposal being floated in the late 90s. We were not ready for it then - do you think we are yet?
