Editorial: Opportunity Rolling Away

IN June Michael Johnsen MP proudly announced in state parliament that $1 billion worth of roadworks were completed or underway in the Upper Hunter electorate.

Most notably stating, “Scone, Muswellbrook and Singleton bypasses are now being constructed“.

While the words may be in Hansard, the shovels are still in the shed.

In Scone it remains to be seen if the overpass has been completely bypassed and in Muswellbrook and Singleton a bypass still seems a never ending pipe-nightmare.

And while money has been allocated the longer these projects take to complete the more expensive the projects become and the less money will be left.

In Scone, there was initially enough money for both a bypass and an in-town rail overpass but as the community indecision continues about where to put the overpass, with no strong leadership in sight the money is dissipating and so every day it is less likely we will see an overpass and more likely we will be left waiting while watching coal trains roll by at the level crossings.

As a community we can continue to wait on the Roads and Maritime Services to call time of death on the in-town rail overpass, or we could proactively decide our destiny.

If there is ultimately no in town rail overpass, I don’t think the blame would rest with the RMS, but with the lack of strong leadership at a community level.

The warning bells are sounding, but our leaders are still sitting watching the process roll us by.

Related story: Letter: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again.

Elizabeth Flaherty
Editor of scone.com.au