Moruya Bypass: Please, not the Purple One

The Beagle Editor Moruya Bypass: Please, not the Purple Route

I recently received a flyer from the Moruya Bypass Action Group protesting the Orange Route for the new Moruya Bypass and calling for the Purple Route that runs through town to be selected instead. The Action Group is led by people whose property would be affected by the Orange Route and I completely understand why they want the bypass moved elsewhere. Five bypass route options were presented by Transport. The push in the flyer for only the Purple Route to be considered worries me because that route will carve our town in two and change the charming character of Moruya forever as the town is bisected by an elevated concrete bridge and road. The Purple Route will see a bridge and elevated road up to 9 metres high to the east of the shopping district. The elevated road will cut through Riverside Park and across South Head Road near the bottom end of the Golf Course. The noise of high-speed trucks and traffic on the elevated road will affect residents in Braemar Estate and other residential areas of town. Also, the Purple Route leaves the highway to the north of town halfway across Mullenderree Flat so it cannot deliver the flood-free access to the new hospital promised to people in Batemans Bay and the north of the shire. I do not envy the state government planners who have to select the bypass route, but whichever one is built, I hope it is not the Purple one. Phil Herrick Moruya