In 2016 Jeff de Jager, Danielle Brice, John Seltenrych (President Moruya South Head Cycle/Pathway Committee), Gary Cooper and Bruce Roberts (Committee Secretary) called for the missing link to be completed – 10 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, it’s still unfinished.
Can you figure out how to get a kilometre of footpath laid?
If you can, Moruya Business Chamber wants to meet you for brekkie at the Adelaide Hotel on Thursday 24 September.
After almost 30 years of work from the community and promises from all levels and parties of government, the Moruya to South Heads footpath remains incomplete, with just 1.6 km of concrete needed to finish the job.
Moruya Business Chamber president Rob Pollock said recently completed walking tracks in Batemans Bay and Narooma added insult to injury.
“The allocated funds just seem to disappear,” he said.
“We were promised it would be completed by 2025. It is well and truly overdue.
“We see all sorts of other infrastructure happen around the shire, like the walkway at the Bay two years ago and the boardwalk at Narooma.
“They’ve both been completed, but we’ve been left in limbo.
“It seems that for anything to happen in Moruya the community has to do it themselves.”
The project was enthusiastically begun by community labour and cash back in 1998, before it was taken over by the Eurobodalla Shire Council and left unfinished.
Ten years later, on 8 August 2008, Moruya teen Chris Brice was walking to a party. He was hit by a car while walking along the side of South Head Road and died.
His mum Danielle was determined to prevent another needless death in the same area and threw herself into advocating for the connection between Moruya and South Head to be completed.
MP Mike Kelly in 2009 committed $146,000 to get the path finished.
In 2012 the RMS and the Eurobodalla Shire Council committed $50,000 each.
Eurobodalla roads and recreation manager Warren Sharpe said at the time about $700,000 worth of work would be needed to complete the first kilometre of path from the Princes Highway to Keightley Street.
In September 2017 then-Bega MP and NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance pledged $750,000 for the pathway.
Mr Constance said at the time the Liberal NSW Government would work with Eurobodalla Shire Council and “this is going to get done”.
By 2023, with about 1.6 km of path to go, the money ran out, according to the Eurobodalla Shire Council’s website.
On the campaign trail for the NSW election Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips and Bega MP Michael Holland hammered the Liberals for their broken promises.
“The Liberals were happy to go to Moruya during an election to make flashy announcements, but as we have seen far too many times, once the speeches were over, and the photos taken, the money never came through,” Ms Phillips said.
Three years later there’s been no further progress, and the Moruya community is livid.
The Moruya Business Chamber wants to create an action group to get the cycleway completed.
Mr Pollock said they were open to all ideas about how it could be done, from volunteering and community contributions to work from any level or party of government.
“It’s time we make sure it gets completed for all the people who have put their shoulders to the wheel since 1998,” he said.
“Some of them have passed, and there has been one death on the road – we don’t need another one.
“This needs to be a priority.”
Beyond that, he said the potential benefits of unlocking South Heads for cyclists and pedestrians was enormous, for accessibility, health and recreation.
Breakfast at the Adelaide Hotel to discuss the push for the path is on Thursday 24 September from 7:30 am. Cost $25 per head includes barista coffee to order, and a choice of an egg and bacon roll, a veggie frittata, hash browns, cereals and juices. RSVP to [email protected], or text Glenda Collins on 0415 955 662.
