Wednesday 13 January 2009
Major new traffic rules start to come into place across Tamworth from late Wednesday January 13 as the city adopts its special country music festival road map.
Road closures will start to happen from 4:00pm in the CBD and city motorists are being urged to take note of special parking zones and new road rules as part of that management plan.
Tamworth Regional Council has repeated warnings for local motorists to note the changes to some parking zones and road diversions to avoid penalties or fines but more importantly to preserve the safety of festival fans.
Festival director Steve Bartlett says motorists who ignore changed traffic rules and drive where they shouldn’t place festival staff, emergency workers and festival fans at risk.
The Peel St end of Fitzroy St will close to traffic from this afternoon but the major street changes come into place from 6:00am Thursday January 14 when the entire length of Fitzroy St from Marius St to Kable Ave is closed.
Peel St between White and Bourke streets, Brisbane St from Kable Ave to Marius and Kable Ave from Brisbane to White streets close from 7:00am Friday – putting in place the major festival CBD ring road.
The major hotspot for road rules is the Kable Ave-Brisbane St intersection where all traffic coming from the south side into the CBD must turn left at the swimming pool and Regent Theatre corner. No traffic except buses or taxis are allowed to turn right from the corner into Kable Ave.
A new change this year is the creation of dual traffic lanes from near the Imperial Hotel in Marius St through to Bourke St. It is designed to keep northbound traffic flowing smoothly instead of the previous bottleneck created when double lanes at the Brisbane St intersection merged into one near Noel Park House.
To do that, temporary parallel parking zones come into place in that block on the Noel Park House side of the road.
Mr Bartlett says a number of parking zones, particularly in inner city areas like White, Fitzroy and Brisbane streets and in Kable Ave, will change and motorists should take notice of them or risk hefty fines.
Mr Bartlett says new festival road rules are in place to protect festival fans and workers and help avoid any major traffic snarls.
He urges all motorists to check signs and obey them. This includes new disabled parking zones in Fitzroy St and White St – where plenty of locals in previous years have been caught unawares.
Parking officers will usually target disabled, emergency, bus and loading zones for people ignoring traffic signs. And drivers who ignore closed road areas or enter closed roads without permits or contravene their permits, also risk being fined.
Temporary taxi zones operate in Brisbane St next to the Central Hotel and in Kable Ave around the corner from the Regent Theatre. The festival bus zone is in Kable Ave opposite No 1 Oval.