ONCE labelled "the city's worst intersection" a $250,000 upgrade of the Bradwardine Road and Suttor Street intersection is now complete.
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Over the past six weeks, the roundabout has undergone a major upgrade to make the intersection safer including changes to the traffic islands, which were widened to change the deflection angle.
The left turning lane from Suttor Street into Bradwardine Road, towards the RTA, was also removed, so there is just one lane of traffic, which can either go straight ahead or turn left
Cr Warren Aubin, who petitioned for the change, said the upgrade involved a lot of work, but the end results are worth it.
When preliminary work began in late September he said the upgrade "was quite involved."
"New rubber was laid to extend the existing roundabout, and the existing painted traffic islands were concreted.
"There were safety concerns in the area, so it had to be done," he said.
The intersection received just under $250,000 in Black Spot Funding 12 months ago, following a series of serious road crashes there, including three in a week in August 2019.
Cr Warren Aubin said he first raised concerns about the roundabout close to three years ago.
Last year he called on council to make the intersection safer, after a string of serious crashes including a pizza delivery rider being knocked from his motorbike.
"It's become the worst intersection for crashes in Bathurst; people just won't slow down," Cr Aubin said at the time.
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"I use it 10 times day, even more. The major thing is as you come down Bradwardine Road, if there's a vehicle on the roundabout it's usually right behind the pillar of your windscreen, right in the blind spot," he said.
Having reviewed the upgraded roundabout, and used it a number of times, Cr Aubin said it is now much safer.
"Now (thanks to the upgrade) it's very hard to go through the roundabout fast, and that's what we wanted."
"We needed drivers to slow down."
"The new design has increased the deflection angles going into the roundabout and and the bigger roundabout in the centre means you have to turn both ways to get around it.
"So the upgrade has done its job.
He said the idea behind the upgrade was to slow people down as they entered the intersection.
"Most people do the right thing, but a selected few drivers have gone in too fast on the approach, and run into problems."
