Road closing by councils for traffic management purposes
32 Road closing by councils for traffic management purposes
If a council proposes, by the installation or alteration of a traffic control device—
to close a road or a part of a road to all vehicles or vehicles of a specified class (whether or not the closure is to apply every day in a week or for all hours in a day); or
to close a road as a through road for motor vehicles, for the purposes of rationalising the flow or impact of traffic within a
part of the council's area, the council may only do so in accordance with a resolution of the council and must, at least one month before the meeting at which the resolution is first to be considered, cause notice of the proposal—
to be published both in a newspaper circulating generally in the State and a newspaper circulating within the area of the council; and
to be given by post to each ratepayer of land immediately abutting the road, or portion of road, the subject of the proposal; and
if the road is a prescribed road, to be given to each affected council;
and
if the road is a highway, or runs into or intersects with a highway, to be given to the Commissioner of Highways.
The council must give due consideration to all written submissions made on the proposal that are received by the council before the meeting.
A resolution for a road closure to which subsection (1) applies is not effective unless a majority of all members of the council concur in it.
A resolution for a road closure to which subsection (1) applies that would have the effect of the closure being operative in relation to a highway is not effective unless—
the
Commissioner of Highways concurs with it; or
the closure is consistent with a notice of the Commissioner of Highways under section 26 of the Highways
Act 1926.
A resolution for a road closure to which subsection (1) applies that would have the effect of the closure being operative—
for a continuous period of more than 6 months; or
for periods that, in aggregate, exceed 6 months in any 12 month period, is not effective unless—
if the road runs into or intersects with a highway, the Commissioner of
Highways concurs with it; and
if the road is a prescribed road, each affected council concurs with it.
A council must, as soon as practicable after a resolution for a road closure to which subsection (1) applies has been passed and, if required, concurred with under subsection (4) or (5), cause notice of the resolution to be published and given in the manner set out in subsection (1).
In this section—
affected council, in relation to a prescribed road, means a council into whose area or along the boundary of which the road runs;
highway means—
a main road or a controlled access road within the meaning of the
Highways
Act 1926;
or
a road vested in the name of the Commissioner of Highways or the
Minister to whom the administration of the Highways
Act 1926 is committed; or
a road that is subject to a notice under section 26 of the Highways
Act 1926;
prescribed road means a road that runs into the area, or along the boundary, of another council.
For the purposes of this section, a road that runs up to—
the boundary of another council area; or
another road running along or containing the boundary of another council area, will be taken to run into that area.
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