Opposition to rebuilding North Creek Bridge has hit a roadblock — in the form of 75-year-old Leona Ross.
The diminutive East Ballina resident says she and her husband Peter, 77, have been pushed around too many times by broken promises, and she’s not about to take it anymore.
The Rosses bought their dream home in 1990, part of a council-developed estate on what was then quiet swampy land behind Eyles Drive.
They were told the new road would go only as far as Links Avenue to take pressure off Hill Street.
But when Angels Beach Drive opened in 1994, it was pushed all the way to the Coast Road, effectively turning it into a highway.
“It changed our lives overnight,” Mrs Ross said.
“At times the noise is unbearable.
“We were promised a six-foot-high sound wall, but instead got a mound of bark chips and plants.
“Over the years it’s sunk so low we can see the tops of cars and their lights from inside our lounge room.”
She said residents were also promised a smooth hot mix surface to cut down traffic noise – but that only came later after locals put up a fight.
“Before they hot mixed it, it was like the trucks were coming through the house,” she said.
“It feels like we’ve been treated like mugs from the start.
“I’ve been paying rates to Ballina Shire for more than 50 years, and this would be the final betrayal after all the broken promises.”
Heritage hurdles
Mrs Ross has kept a thick file of documents, clippings, and the original Environmental Impact Statement, which she says made clear there were to be no houses closer to the road than Eyles Drive.
Instead, to maximise returns for Council, George Pearse Place was added later to the subdivision plans, leaving six backyards just metres from traffic.
Widening the road to four lanes now, she warns, won’t just anger residents – it will collide with Indigenous heritage protections.
“The road was shifted behind us in the 1990s to avoid a midden and fish trap.
“That land is now under the Jali Land Council, and protections are much stricter today. I can’t see how four lanes could ever happen.”
‘The bridge always made sense’
For Mrs Ross and her neighbours in George Pearse Place, the answer has always been the same: rebuild North Creek Bridge.
“I’m old enough to remember driving across the old bridge to the beach at Lennox. We’d tie a tractor inner tube on the car and head out to Lake Ainsworth for the day.
“It was short, convenient and it made sense. It still does.
“Those of us on Angels Beach Drive have copped this for 30 years.
“To now tell us it’s going to be widened to four lanes? Well, over my dead body.”
See earlier story : Opposition Mounts to New ‘Highway to Byron Bay’
How ridiculous to widen Angels Beach Drive. All the traffic is still going to have to go through the traffic lights near Ballina Fair and across Prospect Bridge. What are you going to do? Build another 2 lane bridge next to the existing one? That achieves nothing. Get moving and build the promised North Creek Bridge as that makes more sense and takes a lot of traffic from the expanded airport direct to Byron without crawling through the current congested route. Council do your job properly and not just a series of short term fixes. Build North Creek bridge asap. It should have been the first thing to get built not the last
Directing funds to widen Angela Beach Road instead of North Creek Road Bridge is only delaying for years what’s should be the first priority to divert traffic away from Ballina Fair bottle neck
And connecting roads
It’s only a poor bandaid attempt short term solution for the council
The coast road to Lennox Head is already congested
North Creek Bridge should be the priority
While I agree, the widening of Angels beach Drive is not an ideal solution to the traffic problem, nor do I think the North Creek Road option is the answer. The volume of traffic predicted to use this route will only move the problem elsewhere i.e The Aldi roundabout.
Has there been any consideration given to extending the fourth exit at the roundabout adjacent to the Harvey Norman complex, and the Airport, to reconnect with North Ck Rd at or near the existing bridge site?
This route could also lead back via Boeing Ave to join with Tamarind Dve to disperse traffic .
The infrastruture in that North Ballina area needs to be addressed before introducing more traffic .
Come on, hospitals and staffing come 1st.