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Writer's pictureThe Beagle

Residents being put in danger by logging trucks while we get peanuts for the timber

The Beagle Editor,


Forestry Corporation of NSW are currently logging the Currowan State Forest at Currowan, north of the Kings Highway. Their log haulage trucks use narrow gravel roads (Western Distributor Rd and Pig Rd) for access to their logging sites in CPT 502A. Twelve local properties are on their haulage route. Residents travelling daily to and from their homes for work, school, shopping etc have to run the gauntlet of wide logging trucks on narrow dirt roads. There is no room for vehicles to pass in opposite directions and often nowhere for vehicles to pull over, as one side of these roads is a cliff with a steep drop into a valley below.


We have twice been forced off the road by a logging truck. On both occasions the truck did not slow down nor make any attempt to give our oncoming vehicle any room on the road. The first occasion was on 18th November 2021 when a fully loaded double-axle timber truck forced us onto the soft outside shoulder of Western Distributor Rd, above a cliff face. The truck missed our vehicle by millimetres. We were in shock after this incident. The second occasion was on 18th March 2022 when an empty timber truck coming down Western Distributor Rd from the Kings Highway forced us to pull over with one wheel into the deep gutter on the inner edge of the road. Both incidents demonstrated dangerous driving on the part of forestry contractors and a complete contempt for public safety on a public residential road.


Our complaints to Forestry Corporation and Transport NSW fell on deaf ears. Forestry did not reply. Transport NSW said that it was a matter for Shoalhaven Council (!) even though the incidents occurred in the Eurobodalla SC. Shoalhaven Council replied that “Western Distributor Rd is owned by Forestry Corporation” despite the fact that the road is a public road with 12 residential properties on it, and a road giving access to the Budawangs National Park. Forestry contractors seem to believe that they have sole right to drive on the road and they do so in a dangerous manner. Someone will be killed if this situation continues.


On 20/11/2021 we requested Forestry to provide stop/go traffic control on Western Distributor Rd or to use the non-residential Lyons Road for haulage, but have had no response.


On 15/3/2022 I flagged down a loaded logging truck to indicate that there was a Shoalhaven Council road repair vehicle parked out of sight around a corner. Had I not done this, the council employee seated beside his truck could possibly have been killed. Yours sincerely I do not want my name or address published as I fear retribution from Forestry Corporation






Above: 18/11/2021 on Western Distributor Rd on descent into the Currowan Creek valley.


18/03/2022 on Western Distributor Rd just south of Currowan Creek crossing.

15/03/2022, at the bottom of Pig Rd where it joins Western Distributor Rd; loaded timber truck filling the entire road width of Pig Rd.

NOTE: Comments were TRIALED - in the end it failed as humans will be humans and it turned into a pile of merde; only contributed to by just a handful who did little to add to the conversation of the issue at hand. Anyone who would like to contribute an opinion are encouraged to send in a Letter to the Editor where it might be considered for publication

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