Goulburn Mulwaree Council cuts off checking station 'loophole'

Ken Wray said trucks had utilised the 10km long Red Hills Road North for many years to avoid the Marulan Heavy Vehicle Checking Station.

Now Goulburn Mulwaree Council will impose a five tonne load limit on the road's northern section to close off the 'loophole.'

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Residents, school buses and vehicles servicing properties will be exempt.

The thoroughfare runs loosely parallel with the Hume Highway, north of Marulan.

The council will also monitor compliance with the five tonne limit, utilising the South East Weights and Loads Group, of which it is a member.

"I've been after this for 15 years," Mr Wray said.

"The checking station was put in by the Roads and Maritime Service and they didn't realise the implications."

The Red Hills Road resident said heavy vehicles used the route, most often at night. Their route also took in Brayton and Ambrose Roads, to avoid the checking station.

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Although the RMS had installed monitoring devices on the road, this hadn't worked, he claimed.

The council installed a traffic counter and between March 23 and April 4, data showed than average 66 vehicles used the road daily, with 18 per cent of these being heavy trucks.

Operations director Matt O'Rourke said this was "quite high" for a rural road and had resulted in deterioration.

"There's not much underneath these rural roads so there's not much structure," he said.

"They're fine for light vehicles but if you get 50 to 60 tonne trucks going over them, it knocks them around very quickly."

Mr Wray said potholes and degraded pavement had appeared along the narrow road, which did not have dividing lines.

"When you get B-doubles going along there at 80 to 90km/h, it is very dangerous. I've nearly been wiped out twice," he said

Mr Wray has raised the matter with previous council general managers, without success. The council acted after be brought it up at a Marulan outreach meeting in June.

Red Hills Road was built by a subdivision developer in the early 1990s. The council constructed Ambrose Road, which Mr Wray said constantly needed fixing.

He welcomed the council move and was "delighted" the council had also committed funds in its 2022/23 budget to upgrade Wollumbi Road, which connected Red Hills Road to the Hume Highway.

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