A conservationist group has slammed the Ellerton Drive Extension as "a death threat for wildlife" and hopes a council motion supporting further community consultation will pass so other options can be considered.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Queanbeyan City Council will vote on a motion for a community forum to answer questions about the proposed bypass, following an influx of emails raising issues and calling for further community engagement.
Greenleigh residents living along the Queanbeyan River corridor recently labelled the public consultation period surrounding the extension as "disingenuous" after identifying errors in the Queanbeyan City Council's noise report for the link road.
Regional Friends of Wildlife spokeswoman Frankie Seymour said neighbourhood groups had recently lodged an 850-person petition and survey with councillors.
She said her group's main concern was the welfare of wildlife, as well as the amenity of the area amid increased traffic congestion and access to the countryside.
"The road itself will destroy a huge area of habitat, the road will fragment a large part of the habitat," she said.
"Animals trying to cross the road, they'll be mowed down. The underpases ... are not going save more than a token number of animals.
"Ultimately, we'd like to see this road stopped and something more sensible proposed; something that doesn't cut through residential Queanbeyan and all this beautiful area."
Other issues included the impact of noise and fumes from traffic; an increased risk of flooding; and the removal of decades-old hollowed trees housing wildlife.
Ms Seymour said a range of wildlife including endangered species frequented the area. Gang-gang and glossy black cockatoos, eagles, brown tree creepers, speckled warblers, diamond firetails, echidnas, wombats, kangaroos, bent-wing bats, the rare bandy bandy snake, legless lizards and earless dragons were among species.
Ms Seymour said she would like to see other options costed or at least examined, such as land further north where there was less habitat and more degraded paddocks and industrial land.
She said the Dunns Creek Road area might also be less environmentally-destructive.
If the current bypass went ahead, more underpasses would be needed.
"I can't see how you can put a road through that particular area and not destroy the area you're putting it through," she said.
