Transport for NSW is monitoring the volume of traffic out of a blackspot on the Great Western Highway at Wentworth Falls, following a death at the site earlier this year.
It follows a recent Transport for NSW traffic safety audit at the Sinclair Crescent intersection.
An 80-year-old Leura woman died at the intersection in June when attempting to turn right onto the highway. Council wants a funding commitment from Transport for NSW and believes traffic lights are needed at this intersection and at the adjacent Scott Avenue turn-off.
Transport for NSW director West Alistair Lunn said Transport for NSW recently carried out a road safety audit on the highway and at the intersections of Kitchener Road, Sinclair Crescent and Scott Avenue and "once compiled, the findings of this audit will be shared with Blue Mountains City Council".
"Any safety issues with the existing alignment, drainage, turning lane lengths and/ or configurations identified from the audit may be considered for funding under the Safer Roads Program."
Mr Lunn said "Transport for NSW has also put forward a submission for development funding to investigate safety upgrade treatments for these intersections and will continue to work with council on improvement plans".
"Separately, Transport for NSW recently installed traffic cameras between Wentworth Falls and Leura to collect traffic volume data to inform future work. These were installed last week and are expected to be removed in two weeks," he added.
Council and Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle called for the state government to complete an urgent safety audit after the accidents. They also requested crash statistics for the past decade and appealed for any safety improvements to be made from the audit.
Council CEO Rosemary Dillion said "available crash data indicates a very real and serious problem".
"Between January 2010 and May 2019 there had been 31 accidents at three intersections - Sinclair Crescent, Scott Avenue and Evans Lookout Road in Blackheath [the scene of another road fatality in June this year]. Safety at these three locations are ongoing concerns," Dr Dillon added.
When the issue came up at council, Cr Kerry Brown said the problem would only get worse.
"The crashes at these adjacent intersections are likely to increase as a result of the ongoing growth in tourism and planned duplication of the highway to accommodate the projected doubling of freight through Port Botany by 2031."
A petition to the NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian for traffic lights at Wentworth Falls after the woman's death garnered 1200 signatures on the change.org site.
