Congestion-busting traffic lights proposed for Dapto motorway ramp

This is one of the ideas floated by Wollongong City Council in its draft submission to Transport for NSW on the issue of adding on and off-ramps at Kanahooka, Fowlers or Emerson roads.

The submission noted that as part of the process of adding ramps, the capacity and congestion of the M1 through Dapto also needed to be considered.

"The project must include the State Government-committed road capacity improvements of additional lanes both north and southbound," the submission said.

As a short-term measure to deal with congestion, the submission floated the idea of "ramp metering"; a simple traffic light positioned at the junction where the on ramp meets the motorway.

The light lets one car at a time merge onto the motorway when space is detected, rather than multiple cars at once, which has a slowing effect on motorway traffic.

The council said these have already been used on Sydney's M4 Motorway and extensively in Victoria, and could be beneficial at the Kanahooka Road on ramp.

"The use of signals at the ramps accessing the M1 will assist with inappropriate merging," the submissions stated.

"There is a comparatively under-utilised section of Princes Highway in the section as an alternative north-south route. This could be a short-term solution delivered to address current capacity issues on the M1 in the AM and PM peak."

The draft submission recommended Emerson Road - the only one of the three with no ramps at all - as the council's preferred option.

However, this appears to be the case because the other two options were worse.

Adding ramps to Kanahooka Road would increase traffic from the West Dapto area using Darkes Road, which has a level crossing and "significant flooding concerns", the council submission stated.

Fowlers Road was not the preferred option because the council had built the Karrara Bridge extension into West Dapto expecting only north-facing ramps from the M1.

"Some historic modelling was undertaken with south-facing ramps at this location, which showed very large demand on Fowlers Road, to the extent that grade separation would be a consideration for the Princes Highway intersection," the submission stated.

There was also the issue that Fowlers Road ramps would require the acquisition of a large number of residential properties.

Councillors will vote on Monday whether to send the submission to Transport for NSW.