A heavy vehicle limit, clear speed limit signs and an improved line of sight are all suggestions from the community to improve safety on Bulli Pass, but Transport for NSW isn’t interested. Photo: Google Maps.
Despite another, recent road fatality on Bulli Pass, Transport for NSW has said it won’t make safety improvements called for by local residents.
In February a horror crash at the bottom of the pass left one man dead and resulted in permanent, life-altering injuries for three others.
Bill Collins, who lives at the bottom of Bulli Pass, was the first person on the scene. Afterwards, he asked the rest of the community what changes they thought would make the notorious road safer.
“What occurred was inevitable – we have 1920s infrastructure that’s not built to cope with the demands of 2024,” he said.
“Major works take time and are expensive, but there are suggestions that could make a difference in the short term and get done reasonably quickly and fairly cheaply.
“I struggle with the knowledge that unless something happens, I will have to cradle someone else’s head while the firies take their car apart around them.”
The community consensus was that the most helpful options would be a maximum vehicle load limit of four tonnes on Bulli Pass; flashing “heavy vehicle” speed limit signs kept clear of foliage growth; clear signage indicating heavy vehicle emergency action such as the location of the arrest barrier and an improved line of sight for the Bulli Pass and Lawrence Hargrave Drive intersection via convex mirrors or slip lanes.
When Bill took the suggestions to Transport for NSW (TfNSW), it said there were no plans for immediate changes to the road.
Then, in December, TfNSW announced a trial of glow-in-the-dark line markings in a bid to reduce night-time accidents on the pass.
Transport said this was because of a spike in near-miss incidents between 9 pm and 4 am, with 125 cases recorded in the year to 30 June.
This was despite the road being closed for almost half of that time to repair four landslip sites.
Within days of that announcement, Bulli Pass was the site of another fatal accident on 2 December, when a truck travelling southbound went through the guardrail and down an embankment near the hairpin bend.
Region Illawarra asked TfNSW if, given the second fatality, it would now consider the safety changes requested by the community.
A spokesperson said TfNSW would not. TfNSW said speeding and “driver attitudes” were to blame for accidents and near-misses on the pass.
“A speed zone review is currently being carried out on the Princes Highway at Thirroul (Bulli Pass),” the spokesperson said.
“This review will take into account a number of factors including crash data, traffic volumes, roadside environment and driveway access.
“Preliminary investigations as part of this speed zone review have highlighted that speeding is a contributing factor to many crashes on Bulli Pass.
“Speeding includes travelling above the speed limit as well as driving too fast for certain conditions, for example wet weather, sharp bends or steep descents.
“Transport for NSW is continuing to investigate managing speeding and driver attitudes towards speed along this length.”
An investigation into a bypass of the Bulli town centre is underway, with $20 million allocated to it.
However, no money has been allocated for any works as a result of those investigations, which suggests it could be some time before a major infrastructure solution would be implemented.
The TfNSW spokesperson indicated the investigation was the preferred, and only, other plan for improving safety.
“A range of options are being considered as part of the Bulli bypass investigations with the overall aim of reducing travel times, easing congestion and improving road safety throughout the surrounding network,” the spokesperson said.
“This work also aims to benefit the community by improving network resilience and future capacity by providing new detour routes for freight and road users.
“As part of the bypass investigations, Transport will consider the safe and efficient operation of the surrounding state road network including the connection to Bulli Pass.”
TfNSW was asked for comparative crash data on Illawarra roads to identify how dangerous Bulli Pass is; the government said it was unable to provide that data, but that the pass was not among the top five roads with the highest number of fatalities in the Illawarra.
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