Roads Australia
The Eddington study on Melbourne’s east - west transport connections has received a mix of positive and negative feedback in the local media over the past week.
The Herald Sun reported that the proposed $9.5 billion road tunnel through the city’s inner north has the backing of organisations as diverse as ConnectEast, Linfox, the RACV and the TWU.
However on the other side of the coin, the Age carried a story this week on a report by Victoria’s sustainability commissioner saying the tunnel would make already rising transport emissions even worse. The report called for greater investment in public transport, the Age said.
The Herald Sun also reported this week that Premier John Brumby had indicated an airport-city rail link could be back on the agenda if Melbourne airport patronage continued to grow.
In other news, the successful transport strategies adapted to cope with last week’s papal visit in Sydney may be made permanent, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Quoting Premier Morris Iemma, the SMH reported this week that the Government would consider keeping extra bus lanes, bus stops and peak-hour clearways to better manage the city’s congestion.
The SMH also reported today that the City of Sydney had come up with an innovative approach to congestion management and vehicle emissions in the CBD – a plan to allow free inner-city parking for motorcycles and scooters.
Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, will formally launch Roads Australia at a gala members lunch in Sydney on August 20.
The lunch, to be sponsored by Pioneer Road Services, will mark the ARF's transition to Roads Australia, a change that was overwhelmingly supported by members at an EGM held in June.
Bookings for the event have only just opened and it is already clear that it will be heavily booked, especially by members' corporate tables.
The lunch will be attended by a who's who of the national industry, including the CEO's of many of ARF's member companies.
Bookings may be made on the Events page of the ARF website.
“We are especially delighted to have PRS on board as sponsor of this event, as they were a foundation member of ARF and sponsored the original prospectus,” said ARF Chief Executive, Ian Webb.
The ARF has approached the Australian Transport Council (ATC) seeking to establish a collaborative partnership with state and Federal ministers on policy development.
The move comes on the back of the inaugural meeting in Sydney last week of ARF’s newly formed policy groups.
The meeting, attended or supported by representatives from 58 organisations, saw the establishment of three separate policy Chapters to focus on sustainability (including climate change), congestion and capacity.
ARF Chief Executive, Ian Webb, says the new policy Chapters are an ideal conduit for stakeholder consultation and cooperation on some of the key National Transport Plan policy issues being driven by Federal and state ministers under the umbrella of the ATC.
“The ARF policy Chapters represent an emerging collaboration between government and industry which may have significant benefit to the industry as a whole, and to the success of the ATC in its work,” Mr Webb says.
“Active consultation by government with the industry’s stakeholder chapters will provide an opportunity for feedback as policy evolves, creating a climate of partnership.”
Mr Webb says the ARF Chapters are well placed to work alongside the ATC because they are representative of a wide range of stakeholders, from private industry through to state road authorities, academia, the union movement and local government.
“The state ministers responsible for the key policy areas under the National Transport Plan have all indicated their support for the stakeholder consultation which the policy chapters can provide,” he says.
“Accordingly, the policy Chapters already include representation from the National Transport Commission and all relevant road authorities.”
The next ARF policy workshop will be held in Sydney on August 19. The focus will be on developing a succinct vision/national objective for ARF on each of the three issues.
For more information on the policy initiative, including how to become directly involved or provide input, email ARF’s Policy Director, David Jarwood, or phone 0413 288 403.
Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, says today’s meeting of transport ministers has taken another important step towards modernising the Federation, helping to create a seamless national economy and reducing the cost of doing business.
Meeting for the third time this year, the nation’s transport ministers have agreed to recommend to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that subject to the outcomes of regulatory impact assessments, it give its in-principle support for the establishment of:
These recommendations will be put to COAG in October.
The Australian Transport Council (ATC) has also agreed to progress work on establishing a single national rail safety regulator and investigator.
To find the Minister's media release and communiqué from today’s ATC meeting, click here.
The National Transport Commission (NTC) will investigate and report on driver remuneration and payment methods in the Australian trucking industry and make recommendations for reform, the Federal Government announced today.
The NTC will be assisted by Professor Michael Quinlan of UNSW and the Hon Lance Wright QC, the former president of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission.
The NTC will report by November 2008, and the report will be considered by the Australian Transport Council (ATC).
Working with the ATC, the Government’s objective is to implement these reforms in the context of changes to national road transport regulation and the introduction of the new workplace relations system.
The report will examine how current methods and rates of pay for heavy vehicle drivers contribute to poor road safety outcomes, and will identify options for implementing a system of safe rates for both employees and owner-drivers, recognising the special vulnerabilities of independent contractors in the transport industry.
The investigation follows on from an agreement between Commonwealth, state and territory transport ministers on February 29 concerning the need for a coordinated national transport plan. The NTC was requested to review and make recommendations relating to truck driver pay and remunerations methods.
The early opening of Melbourne’s EastLink will deliver an additional $285 million boost to the Victorian economy and provide vital productivity savings for businesses along the corridor, according to a report by the Allen Consulting Group.
Commenting on the report, Victorian Premier John Brumby said local businesses had benefited from the early opening of EastLink and the positive impact the roadway had on doing business in the area.
“An additional $285 million will be injected into the Victorian economy as a direct result of EastLink opening five months early, which is on top of the $15 billion already forecast,” Mr Brumby said.
“This translates to new businesses moving to the area, improved productivity and more work for local communities with an additional 2360 jobs generated each year by EastLink.
“The number of jobs within a 30-minute drive of the City of Greater Dandenong alone has doubled to 400,000 with the opening of EastLink and this is happening right along the corridor.”
Meantime in other Victorian news, the State Government has announced a $56 million funding boost to improve safety on Victoria’s country roads.
The funding is part of the Safer Road Infrastructure Program which delivers safety improvements for country and outer metropolitan roads.
The Queensland Government was ready to hit the ground running on the long overdue Ipswich Motorway upgrade between Dinmore and Goodna, Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt said last week.
Mr Pitt told a budget Estimates Committee hearing that the Queensland Main Roads Department was on the verge of finalising the road designers and contractors that would form an alliance and get the job done.
He said Main Roads had received 22 formal proposals from companies wishing to become alliance participants for the project.
“These proposals have been assessed by a selection panel, and arrangements to put an alliance of project partners in place are nearing completion.”
Mr Pitt said that in the current buoyant construction sector, Main Roads had taken a different approach to ensure the most suitable contracting arrangements.
“Normally a major contractor would be responsible for proposing and forming an alliance. However, in this case, Main Roads is taking the leading role in bringing the team together,” he said.
“Main Roads expects to announce details of contracting arrangements soon.”
In other Queensland news, Premier Anna Bligh has officially commissioned the ‘congesting busting’ Sunshine Motorway upgrade at Sippy Downs.
The Dixon/Claymore Road interchange completes the State Government’s $66 million upgrade of the motorway between Sippy Downs Drive and Kawana Way with traffic due to start flowing on the new road today.
And Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt has commissioned a $5 million planning study for the Bruce Highway from Rutledge Street at Ingham to the southern foothills of the Cardwell Range.
WA Planning and Infrastructure Minister, Alannah MacTiernan, has this week named Abigroup Contractors as the preferred proponent to design and construct the final 8.7km section of the Geraldton Southern Transport Corridor, from North West Coastal Highway to the airport access road.
Construction work is on course to start by the end of the year, with the road open to traffic in early 2010, the Minister says.
The project includes constructing new connections with Geraldton/Walkaway Road, Goulds Road, Deepdale Road and the airport access road.
It will also be designed to enable future intersections with the proposed ‘Road B’ (also known as Verita Road) into the Mt Tarcoola area and the proposed North-South Route.
The Minister welcomed Abigroup to its first major contract for the Western Australian Government.
“We have been working hard across government to encourage more large civil construction companies to WA and create more competition in the sector,” she said.
Abigroup has teamed with Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) as the designer and other specialist consultants for the Geraldton Southern Transport Corridor Stage Two Project.
Effective action to cut freight transport greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can also reduce business costs, concludes a National Transport Commission (NTC) discussion paper, Freight transport in a carbon constrained economy.
NTC Chief Executive Nick Dimopoulos calls it a ‘win-win’ for business and the environment.
“Fixing road and rail freight bottlenecks, mapping networks for safer and more productive trucks and improving the efficiency of road-rail-sea interfaces are sensible measures to cut carbon emissions, reduce freight delays and boost productivity,” said Mr Dimopoulos.
The report says transport should be included in an emissions trading scheme (ETS) to encourage the right investment, mode and technology choices over the long-term. But the effectiveness of an ETS would be improved with short to medium term measures to cut freight transport carbon emissions.
"Funds from an ETS could be used to help transition the freight transport sector to a lower carbon future," he said.
Mr Dimopoulos said transport ministers are showing leadership by developing a national transport policy, which includes action on climate change.
NTC is seeking public comment on its discussion paper by 29 August 2008, and says it will consider these submissions in the development of a draft policy proposal for Australia’s transport ministers.
Click here to view the paper.
Meantime, the Australian Logistics Council National Transport and Logistics (T&L) Energy and Environment Summit this week committed to working towards zero net carbon emissions.
“Delegates at today’s summit, from right across the T&L industry, agreed by overwhelming majority to work towards Zero Net Carbon Emissions and as a first step committed to an efficient and sustainable T&L industry with an ever decreasing rate of emissions,” ALC Chairman Ivan Backman said.
“The T&L industry recognises there must be leadership and partnership approach backed up by real commitment and action from both the private sector and government to reduce emissions from the transport sector.”
The T&L industry will work to achieve this goal by:
T&L also calls on governments to act to ensure these goals are achieved by actively creating a more efficient transport market across all modes:
“The discussion at today’s summit was robust and wide ranging, but there was a strong commitment for the T&L industry to proactively act to reduce transport emissions,” Mr Backman stated.
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Friday July 25th 2008 2:05pm
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