Widening of the M5 West is expected to start midway through this year, providing hope of relief for western Sydney’s long-suffering motorists.
NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell, and his Roads Minister, Duncan Gay, made the announcement just before Christmas, having reached an in-principle agreement with operator Interlink Roads that will see motorists avoid any increase in the car toll to fund the project.
Instead the $400 million widening project will be funded by Interlink Roads, with the NSW Government extending the M5 concession by 3.3 years. The Government will also provide $50 million in funding for noise abatement measures to address community concerns.
The project involves widening 21km of the M5 West motorway all the way from Camden Valley Way at Prestons to King Georges Road at Beverly Hills with an additional lane in both directions.
Mr Gay said work was expected to start in mid-2012, after the necessary design work, construction approvals, contract and finance arrangements had been finalised. Project completion is set for 2014.
“More than half of motorists travelling eastbound on the M5 leave the motorway before the start of the M5 East so this project will provide real benefits for tens of thousands of motorists,” Mr Gay said.
“The project also includes 22 new electronic message signs on the motorway and at critical intersections to provide better information for motorists,” he said.
“There will be no increase in car tolls to fund the project. Truck tolls will be lifted from 2.25 times to three times the value of car tolls. This will be phased in across two years following completion of the widening.”
Australian and New Zealand road agencies have jointly funded a project to develop a common approach to the assessment of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the design, construction and operation of a road project.
The final product is the joint effort of six road agencies (NSW Roads and Maritime Services, the New Zealand Transport Authority, the SA Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure, the Tasmanian Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources, Main Roads Western Australia, and VicRoads), although it is anticipated that it will be utilised by all road agencies across Australia.
The project has involved two discrete stages:
What is unique in the approach adopted by the Australian and New Zealand road agencies is that for the first time, proponents can assess the whole of life emissions associated with a particular road construction project.
The result is a consistent and transparent approach to estimating greenhouse gas emissions over the 50 year life of any single road project.
The workbook is available through the agency websites. In addition, the Carbon Gauge® Calculator is being investigated for its suitability to become a web-based online tool, which will ensure its ongoing integrity and avoid obsolete versions being used by interested stakeholders. This will also enable capture of information for benchmarking purposes with the potential for setting targets for road construction projects into the future.
For further information contact the road authority within each jurisdiction:
DPTI - Anne Welsh
Roads and Maritime Services - Con Lambous
MRWA - Louis Bettini
DIER - Dick Shaw
VicRoads - Simon Renton
NZTA - Robert Mitchell
Nominations for the 2012 John Shaw Medal, the industry’s top accolade for outstanding achievement, close on March 30.
Nominees are judged by a selection committee comprising past winners of the Medal, and are assessed against criterion that includes the level, breadth and originality of their contributions.
The Medal will be presented at the gala Awards Dinner on May 30.
Full information on the Medal is available at the RA website. Anyone interested in discussing nominees should contact RA Chief Executive, Ian Webb.
Two vital pieces of Queensland road infrastructure - the $70 million Blacksoil interchange, west of Ipswich, and the $85 million Yeppen Crossing project at Rockhampton - are currently in the marketplace.
Registrations of Interest are being sought for the Blacksoil interchange upgrade. The three-week RoI process opened on January 16.
Key features of the upgrade include:
Meantime, interested parties have until February 9 to submit their tender for the $85 million Yeppen Crossing project.
The scope of work includes:
NSW Roads and Maritime Services is seeking Expressions of Interest for the Nambucca Heads to Urunga section of the Pacific Highway upgrade, with the EoI process closing on February 23.
The 22-kilometre section is part of the larger 42-kilometre Warrell Creek to Urunga project and is another important step in upgrading the Pacific Highway between Port Macquarie and Raleigh, north of Urunga.
A shortlist of applicants will be chosen in May and invited to submit tenders. In the meantime Roads and Maritime Services will continue with land acquisitions and investigations to prepare this section for the start of major construction in early 2013.
The NSW Government has committed to upgrading the remaining two lane sections of Camden Valley Way between Narellan Road and the M5/M7 interchange by the end of 2016, with the first stage of works currently out to tender.
The final section is more than 10 kilometres long and runs between Cowpasture Road and Oran Park Drive. The Government has committed to delivering it in three stages by the 2016 deadline.
Submission of tenders for the first stage, between south of Denham Court Road and south of Raby Road at Catherine Field, close on February 29. Tenders are invited from pre-qualified contractors to upgrade this 4.4 kilometre length.
The two remaining stages of Camden Valley Way to be upgraded to four lanes are to the south and north of the stage being tendered and have a total length of 6.2 kilometres. Tenders to build these stages are expected to be called in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The land required for these stages is being progressively acquired.
Fulton Hogan has been awarded the contract to design and construct the $310 million Gerringong upgrade of the Princes Highway, south of Sydney.
The announcement, made just before Christmas, will see Fulton Hogan commence construction work in the second half of 2012, with completion expected in the first half of 2015.
The works involve the upgrading of 7.5 kilometres of the highway between Mt Pleasant and Toolijooa Road, and is the first of three stages to upgrade the entire length of highway between Gerringong and Bomaderry.
The latest report card on the state of the nation's roads has revealed a significant improvement in the safety performance of the highway network. However, with almost one in five highways rated 'High Risk', the report underlines the need for more action.
The latest Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) report, released this month, analyses the road safety risk of the national highway network based on real-life traffic, death and serious injury statistics.
AusRAP surveyed 20,000 kilometres of the national highway network carrying over 15 per cent of the nation's road traffic. In 2005-2009, 1,170 people died on those roads surveyed. This compared with 1,210 in the previous five years – a reduction of three per cent.
Seventeen per cent of the nation's highways are now rated as 'High Risk' – an improvement of six per cent since the last report issued in 2007. At the same time, 23 per cent of the nation's highways are rated as 'Low Risk' – an eight per cent improvement on the previous reporting period.
The Australian Automobile Association, which along with state motoring associations runs the AusRAP program, is urging governments to focus on further improvements to the highway network.
"Safe roads are a vital component of reducing the road toll and there are still too many people being killed or injured in crashes because of poor road design, poor maintenance and roadside hazards," says AAA Executive Director, Andrew McKellar.
"Despite the improved results it is important the community not become complacent about road safety, with governments and motorists taking shared responsibility for their actions.
"It is acknowledged that major, well-travelled highways need continual investment to improve safety, but a list of the 'worst links' in each state reveals many smaller highways are being over-represented in the statistics.
"A wide range of relatively low-cost treatments are available to improve the safety of rural roads and these include removing roadside hazards or protecting them with barriers, providing or sealing shoulders and installing tactile edge lines to alert drivers who stray off the road.
The latest report can be downloaded at the AusRAP website.
A reminder to keep the dates of May 30 and 31 free in the diary for the 2012 Roads Australia National Roads Summit and John Shaw Medal Awards Dinner in Sydney. RA has no association with a similarly named event being held in Melbourne in March.
The RA Summit is Australia’s premier road industry gathering. This year the Summit will be built around the theme of roads and transport of the future, and will again feature leading industry speakers and the best networking opportunity in Australia.
The program and on-line registration for RA's Summit will be available shortly. In the meantime, anyone wanting to register their early interest can email Rachael Rooney. Sponsorship opportunities can also be discussed with Rachael.
Roads Australia’s Capacity and Sustainability chapters both kick off the year with workshops in February. RA has also introduced a new online booking process for all chapter meetings.
Susanna Zammataro, Deputy Director General and Environment Expert for the International Road Federation (IRF) will be the guest speaker at the first Sustainability Chapter meeting for 2012, to be held on Tuesday 28 February and hosted by AECOM.
Susanna will talk about IRF, Green Public Procurement and CHANGER. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a leading international expert.
Meantime, the first Capacity Chapter workshop for 2012 will be held on Friday 24 February in Melbourne and hosted by VicRoads.
The workshop will focus on contracting with VicRoads presenting on different approaches to procurement and managed motorways.
Any members interested in presenting on a related topic should contact RA Policy Director Donna Findlay by Feburary 3.
Presentations may include:
NEW 2012 Registration Process
We are excited to advise that all registrations are now managed online and you can do this yourself for all Roads Australia events, including policy chapter meetings.
If you wish to attend a meeting/workshop you will need to register via the RA website.
If you need assistance or have forgotten your login details please contact our Events Director, Rachael Rooney.
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Sunday January 29th 2012 5:58pm
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