The Sydney Morning Herald reported last weekend that the Federal Government had ‘docked’ its NSW counterpart $48 million in road maintenance funding because the latter had reduced its commitment to the Pacific Highway upgrade from $800m to $500m in its November’s mini-budget.
But in a roundabout way NSW will still benefit from the funding. According to the Herald, instead of allocating the money for maintenance of Federally funded road and rail projects, the Rudd Government had now earmarked it for duplication of a section of the Highway between Coffs Harbour and Grafton.
The Herald also went on the attack last week over the proposed duplication of the Iron Cove Bridge, disputing the Government’s projected time-savings for bus commuters.
But on a more positive note, the Herald reported that the time-of-day tolling changes on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel were having a positive impact on traffic patterns.
The Herald said there was a ‘huge surge’ in commuters crossing before dawn to take advantage of the lower toll rate, while the predicted increase in traffic on Victoria Road had ‘failed to materialise’.
Elsewhere, the Courier Mail claimed last week that the Queensland Budget could be up for another financial hit because the State Government had agreed to a new deal with the Rudd Government that could commit it to joint-funding of Federal roads. In response, Treasurer Andrew Fraser was quoted as saying there was nothing new in joint funding arrangements between the State and Commonwealth.
Projections of a substantial increase in vehicle traffic over the next two decades is vindication of the Government’s commitment to road spending, according to Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese.
The Minister this week released new research that shows the nation's highways and major arteries are set to become even busier, particularly the routes into and out of Australia’s largest cities.
Compiled by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE), National road network intercity traffic projection to 2030 provides long-term projections to help inform the Government's future spending priorities.
Click here to go to the BITRE website where the report can be downloaded in full.
Mr Albanese says the research shows the total distance driven by Australians on the non-urban part of the national network will reach 55.8 billion kilometres a year by 2030.
This is almost 50 per cent greater than in 2005 and equivalent to 186 round trips to the sun.
“The extra traffic won't be shared evenly across the 23,000 km network, with the research finding most of the network will have the capacity to carry the higher volumes without the need for an upgrade,” Mr Albanese said.
“Many of the additional cars, trucks, motorbikes and buses will instead be travelling on those sections of the network connecting Australia's four biggest capitals - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth - with their outer suburbs and nearby regional centres.
“For example, daily vehicle numbers on the Pacific Highway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast will almost double to 172,990; while traffic on Princes Highway between Melbourne and Geelong is projected to rise from 63,152 to over 118,000 vehicles a day.
“The research vindicates our decision to significantly increase the roads budget. It also highlights the need to invest in the alternate ways of moving people and freight such as rail.”
Work is set to start up to six months early on vital road projects across South Australia.
Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, announced last week the Australian Government would immediately provide the SA Government with $48.4 million for the maintenance and upgrade of the State's road network.
The key elements of the package include:
The $331 million Deer Park Bypass in Melbourne’s west will open to traffic next month, more than eight months ahead of schedule.
The bypass will provide a freeway-standard link extending 9.3km between the Ring Road at Sunshine West and the Western Freeway at Caroline Springs.
“Works are running ahead of schedule with 11 bridges nearing completion or already open,” Victorian Roads and Ports Minister, Tim Pallas, said last week.
“Road surfacing, noise walls, signage works are also being finalised.”
VicRoads and Leighton Contractors started construction on the bypass in February 2007.
The Deer Park Bypass is jointly funded by the Australian and Victorian governments.
Meantime, the $1.39 billion upgrade of the Monash-CityLink-West Gate (M1) corridor reached an important milestone at the end of February with the first fully completed section of the Monash Freeway, between Forster Road and Warrigal Road, opening to traffic.
Construction work has started on the final stage of the F5 Freeway upgrade near Campbelltown, in Sydney’s south-west.
NSW Roads Minister, Michael Daley, said last month the $140 million project was expected to create 130 full-time jobs and approximately 70 part-time jobs.
"The work is designed to ease congestion for the 81,000 vehicles a day that use the road, which during peak times can slow to an average speed of 52 kilometres per hour," he said.
Improvements to the freeway will include:
The work will be carried out in sections and progressively opened to traffic, with overall completion expected in late 2011.
The NSW Government has foreshadowed changes to its licence demerit point scheme which it says will make the system fairer for motorists without compromising road safety.
NSW Minister for Roads, Michael Daley, announced earlier this month that lower level speeding offences would be defined in 10kmh bands to better reflect advice about speeding and road safety and align them more closely with speed zones.
The lowest range offence would now only incur one demerit point, rather than the current three.
“Drivers have expressed their frustration at the high number of points lost for only doing a few kilometres over the speed limit,” Mr Daley said.
“There is no such thing as safe speeding, but we acknowledge the system could be fairer which is why we are lowering the number of points for the lowest range speeding offences,” he said.
The 2006-07 Traffic Monitor, providing a snapshot of the performance of Victoria’s arterial roads and freeways for the year, has been released by VicRoads.
The Monitor shows that overall travel in Melbourne and Victoria increased by about one per cent in 2006-2007, in keeping with the significant population growth.
In particular, Melbourne’s freeways saw a consistent increase in travel over the past five years, supported by a continuing increase in the amount of freight on freeways, which was up by 3.1 per cent during weekdays.
“Despite the increased demand, there was still a slight increase in travel speeds generally on our freeways,” said Rob Freemantle, VicRoads’ Executive Director of Network and Asset Planning.
“Compared with 2005-2006 data, average weekday travel speeds on Melbourne’s inner freeways increased by 3 km/h during the morning peak and 3.5 km/h during the afternoon peak.
“These are small improvements, but show that we are heading in the right direction in terms of increasing capacity and traffic flows on our freeways. We expect the trend towards improved travel times on freeways will continue as we introduce smarter freeway management such as ramp metering.”
Mr Freemantle said while freeway travel times had improved, the 06-07 Traffic Monitor recorded a slight decline in travel speed on arterial roads for that year.
“This remains a key focus for both VicRoads and the Government, with a range of congestion improvement projects and road upgrades either completed or underway since 2006-07,” he said.
Click here to view the 2006-07 Performance Monitoring Information Bulletin, as well as earlier bulletins.
Leighton Contractors has been chosen by Brisbane City Council to lead a consortium to design, construct, operate and maintain the Hale Street Link Tolling Revenue Collection Service project.
The project involves the installation of a fully electronic, free-flowing tolling system on the Hale Street Link, a four-lane cross-river bridge connecting Coronation Drive and Hale Street in Milton to Montague Road, Merivale and Cordelia Streets in South Brisbane.
Leighton Contractors will partner with the RiverCity Motorway Group and Kapsch TrafficCom AB to deliver the complex tolling services contract.
The Bridge is scheduled for completion in 2010 and is forecast to carry approximately 22,100 vehicles per day by 2021.
Once complete, Leighton Contractors will operate and maintain the tolling system on behalf of Brisbane City Council.
The President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), Cr Geoff Lake, has called for reform to Australia's road funding arrangements to ensure that local roads receive the necessary funding needed to keep pace with the needs of freight transport across the country.
Cr Lake said last week that local government's ability to support future road transport productivity reforms would depend on creating new funding sources, such as through the introduction of incremental pricing.
"Local government supports the need for road funding reform and that is why we support the introduction of incremental pricing. The Commonwealth and the States should now get on with finalising the concept and commencing trials", said Cr Lake.
Incremental pricing is a Council of Australian Government (COAG) initiative being developed by the National Transport Commission whereby a truck operator is able to buy additional weight on a truck above the legally allowed limit.
"Trials for incremental pricing were agreed between the States and the Commonwealth government two years ago but they are still yet to begin. It is time for them to get on with the job. This is an important micro-economic reform and has significant implications for local councils and local communities," Cr Lake said.
"We hope that incremental pricing is a stepping stone towards full road pricing for heavy vehicles in order to take some of the increasing road funding burden off ratepayers."
Cr Lake said that local councils managed more than 80 per cent of Australia's road system but had no guaranteed funding source, except council rates revenue which were severely stretched meeting other responsibilities.
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Friday March 13th 2009 2:18pm
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