Pennant Hills Road Normanhurst - 'killer mile'

Details

PhotographerAlan LiddleDetailsImages of another road accident on the notorious stretch of Pennant Hills Road, Normanhurst in June 1974.

In the early 1960s Pennant Hills Road had been widened to four lanes. Mrs Woodage ran a corner shop in Normanhurst Road, on the corner opposite Normanhurst Primary School and facing Osborn Road. The shop and dwelling, was a typical corner store, stocking groceries etc. There was a pedestrian crossing on Pennant Hills Road between the Loreto College main gate and the Primary School. Mr Edwards, Deputy Headmaster, would supervise the pupils at the crossing before and after school. He was a teacher respected by both pupils and parents. Later a Mother's Roster was used, to shepherd children across an increasingly more dangerous Pennant Hills Road. Vehicles were going through the red pedestrian light.
About 1962 a new Kindergarten building was built on the Pennant Hills Road/Normanhurst Road corner. At the time, Mrs Archer, the Infants School Headmistress, said "Why did they build on the Pennant Hills Road boundary, they should have realised that Pennant Hills Road will have to be widened again." Mrs Archer was correct. Traffic on Pennant Hills Road increased, in volume and speed, vehicles commonly failed to take the bend at Osborn Road and would roll onto the footpath.
By the early 1970s Mrs Woodage at the shop, said to me "I want to sell. I'm Tired of picking up motor bike riders, or bits of them."
In February 1974 the 'Advocate Courier' wrote "Mrs Elizabeth Ascough, of Thornleigh, was pushing 14 month old Nicholas Davies along the footpath near the Osborn Road intersection when allegedly struck and killed by a car, which had overturned twice." The intersection of Pennant Hills Road and Osborn Road, Normanhurst, is the centre of a "killer mile", 'The Sun' reported in April 1974.
Mr Neil Pickard, our M.L.A. helped us alert the authorities to the needs of this intersection. Councillor Doris Munro helped us to have a guard rail constructed along the pathway.
Eventually Mrs Woodage's shop was bought and demolished. The Primary School buildings on the Pennant Hills Road boundary were demolished, the curve of the road altered and the road widened to six lanes. New school buildings were built with the entrance in Normanhurst Road.
In 1987, after agitation from the parents of the Primary School children and Loreto College, a pedestrian bridge was built over Pennant Hills Road. What a joy it is to walk safely over the top of it all.
Pam WilliamsDate taken1974LocationNormanhurstGeotag^[1]KeywordsPennant Hills RoadNormanhurstaccidentsNormanhurst RoadOsborn Roadroad works

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CollectionAlan Liddle Collection

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