Mooney Mooney Bridge lookout

[Adrian Biankin]

Does anybody know when and why they closed down the Mooney Mooney creek lookout? I've never had the chance to have a look over there, because it closed before I was born.

Link

[Bradley T.]

I strongly suspect (without having any evidence at hand) that it was a safety issue with extremely short acceleration/deceleration lanes coming in and out of the lookout, very sharp turn angles, and massive rock faces either side of the lookout entrance reducing sight distances to far less than what is safely needed when turning onto a high-speed three-lane carriageway with very high volumes of traffic 24/7.

That’s just my hunch!

On 15 Jun 2021, at 13:16, Adrian Biankin <abia...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does anybody know when and why they closed down the Mooney Mooney creek lookout? I've never had the chance to have a look over there, because it closed before I was born.

Link

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[Adrian Biankin]

Hmm, if that was the case, they should've widened up the entry and exit lanes and made up a climbing lane. 

[Conrad Zalewski]

My thoughts (no proof either) is it became overgrown. Even in the photo, there’s a few trees blocking views.

Looking at an aerial, it looks pretty dense.

Regards,

Conrad

On 15 Jun 2021, at 14:58, Adrian Biankin <abia...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hmm, if that was the case, they should've widened up the entry and exit lanes and made up a climbing lane. 

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[Sam Laybutt]

Stretching the memory a bit, but I reckon it was closed around 2000-2002. I can remember stopping there. I do recall the vista itself getting quite overgrown, and also the tourist buses pulling onto the freeway and crawling up the hill towards Kariong at very slow speeds. 

Not sure if there was a particular crash that generated the closure, or just a combination of the risk and the overgrowth being a convenient reason. 

With the way traffic volumes have increased on the M1 there's no safe way to re-open it; the bridge is too close for proper deceleration/exit lane. 

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From: aussie-...@googlegroups.com <aussie-...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Conrad Zalewski <f1f...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 15 June 2021 1:08 PM
To: aussie-...@googlegroups.com <aussie-...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Aussie Highways] Mooney Mooney Bridge lookout

 

[davis]

There was some fatality there, though I think that was after the lookout closed.

Google captured the moment of its permanent demise: the installation of a VMS plumb in the middle of the "deceleration" lane:

https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-33.4338172,151.2577044,3a,75y,335.73h,86.66t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-_usq_HUXVPRxW4_Wf5bXQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[Adrian Biankin]

They should've left a gate sorta like this on it so you can park your car on the outside, but not drive in....

Anyways crappy late DMR design.

[Adrian Biankin]

Heres a little drawing thingo I made for what RTA should've done to improve that area.

Image

(The black shapes with the red lines are lanes)

[davis]

You know that's a big, big rock wall, yeah? And the junction is still only ~160m from the end of the bridge, which is like 1/3rd the distance required for a proper deceleration lane.

[Adrian Biankin]

Well, I'm no expert  🙂

[Aevion]

From what I can gather by trawling NewsBank, the lookout was still open in March 2002 when the decision was made to install safety fencing on the Mooney Mooney bridge. By June 2004 the RTA had confirmed the lookout would remain closed after it was used as a site office for the fencing works. Can't seem to find a more exact date for the closure.