Emu Mountain Road - Shared Pathway

Brian Stockwell187:18

I'll put the motion. Those in favour? Thank you. That's unanimous. Anybody think it was a long day? Okay. I see that our Acting Director Infrastructure Services is making his way to the table with Craig, his manager of design. Of the his water office. Or glass. Yeah, that's it. And they're here to talk about the Emu Mountain Road shared pathway.

Good morning, sorry, good afternoon, the report concerns are proposed shared pathway along Emu Mountain Road between our residents who live outside the Shire and Bridger springs locality to come through to the eastern shores to actually access both the Bridger village within Noosa Shire as well as facilities south such as Coolum village and the Coolum state school. The need for the link is without question. It's even shown on Council's own site when the walking strategy has been desirable. But the options available for actual construction have been subject to ongoing discussion between Council officers and Councillors now for over two years without a clear answer being provided um the ideal route does not have a perfect answer. So one option has a better environmental footprint but it is less than optimal from a safety perspective both due to the pedestrian crossing across the new mountain road as well as the septic issue. So the option that is sought by some central Coast Council has probably a more significant nature conservation footprint upon the road reserve adjacent to Noosa National Park that is optimal from both a usability perspective and being the direct route, you know, for cyclists and walkers has the least crossing points at the lowest speed environment adjacent to David Low Way. But, you know, it's not optimal from the natural environment perspective. So we've analysed it and we consider that option 1B, as recommended by Sunshine Coast Council is the optimal outcome. We consider the risks associated with the crossing point north of the David Low Way roundabout as being part of Transport and Main Roads responsibility, de-risk for Noosa Council perspective, we note that there possibly could be congestion issues associated with the Peregian Beach roundabout. There already are. That is a long-term issue that we will all have to work towards with TMR to Resolve. So that's the summary of the recommended report. Thank you. Do we have any questions?

Frank Wilkie194:00

Thank you for the report, Shaun. This is a very important project. It represents a new level of inter-Council cooperation that places the safety of residents and children regardless of. Where they live as a priority. Schoolchildren are already riding on Emu Mountain Road on their bikes or walking beside it to get to school and the village. This project will take them off the road into a safer environment. To a to changed a northern crossing at the roundabout which would be safer than currently where they're crossing. The risk is if we don't do it, it's more highly likely that something will happen. My opinion to someone who's currently using the roadway to access the village, the school and the coastal bike pathway. There's no financial risk to Noosa Council. The project is entirely funded by Sunshine Coast Council and there will be ongoing maintenance funded and provided by Sunshine Coast Council. I think it's a great, as I said, a great example of inter-regional cooperation. It's the responsible and the right thing to do and thank you for your report on this show and your advice.