Calala Lane Upgrade: Carinya Christian School still has safety concerns about Calala roundabout upgrade

The very busy intersection at Calala Lane and Campbell Road lies just a few dozen metres from a pedestrian crossing used by Carinya Christian School students.

School business manager Stephen Carter praised the council's efforts to consult with the school, but said he still thought the new intersection would pose a threat to crossing children.

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"The kids who live in the Calala suburb ... use the crossing when they come to school and they leave school," he said.

"I think they make up maybe the majority of the pedestrian traffic. Then there's a whole lot of other pedestrian traffic which are other kids in the area who don't attend Carinya who need to cross there to get access to the bus stop."

Tamworth councillors signed off the upgrade during the confidential section of a meeting last week.

The upgrade has come under heavy criticism from locals, who say it should be converted into traffic lights, and the NRMA.

The school wrote to council in February expressing opposition to the upgrade, both on safety grounds and on the grounds that the single-lane roundabout would "restrict traffic flows along Calala Lane".

The school has since been convinced the upgrade would in fact increase the traffic capacity of the road, a sign of the success of consultation, Mr Carter said.

"I suppose to the lay person on the sidelines, a set of traffic lights would mean that students could cross really safely," he said.

The roundabout is just 50 metres from the school's pedestrian crossing.

The Calala Lane and Campbell Road intersection upgrade was put to the community last year. The project is set to be completed by August 13.

A spokesperson for Tamworth Regional Council said the organisation is "not aware of any unanswered concerns and encourage any impacted stakeholders with concerns to contact Council staff directly".

"The intersection upgrade at Calala Lane and Campbell Road is required to improve traffic flows at this intersection and to improve pedestrian safety in this vicinity."

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