Tireless truckies’ campaigner Wes Walker has a new target in his sites at the trouble-prone Gatton hook-up pads – the roundabout near the site’s entry.
Walker sent us a series of pictures that clearly show the latest round of modifications again haven’t worked as engineers had planned.
Several white posts have been flattened, and other signs have been damaged.
“It’s another failure on the Gatton roundabout,” said Walker, whose relentless lobbying for toilet facilities at the site was finally answered in August with the arrival of two portaloos.
“The posts are placed too close to the bitumen and they way did it, it makes the roundabout tighter when you come out of Gatton to get onto that roundabout. So you’ve got Qube with their PBS trailers that are having trouble getting around it.
“It’s another engineer’s disaster, it’s as simple as that.”
The Department of Transport and Main Roads said it is aware of the “minor damage” that has occurred to signs at the roundabout on the southern side of the Warrego Highway and Gatton-Esk Road interchange.
“The damage does not pose an immediate safety issue,” said a spokesperson.
“The signs will be replaced as soon as maintenance crews are available.”
Earlier last month, a series of temporary works at the site were completed by a wind farm developer to facilitate movements of long loads carrying wind farm infrastructure over the next 18 months.
The long loads will travel most of the journey on major highways, however they will be detouring from the Warrego Highway at Gatton to avoid the overpass near the University of Queensland.
“The wind farm developer is undertaking temporary widening at several locations including the Forest Hill-Fernvale and Gatton-Laidley roads intersection, to allow for safe travel,” said TMR.
“The large number of loads – including wind farm blades, turbines and towers – are expected to travel through the Lockyer Valley area during the night to minimise disruptions to traffic.”
The Gatton site has been plagued with design issues before it even opened last year with high-profile Facebook administrator Leanne Dyer labelling it a “stuff up waiting to happen”.