NSW Roads Minister, Michael Daley, reaffirmed his commitment to the future construction of an M4 East at last week’s Roads Australia Sixth National Roads Summit in Sydney.
The Minister, who was keynote speaker at the two-day event, told attendees he would ‘build it tomorrow’ if funding was available.
But with the global financial crisis wiping a forecast $10 billion off state government revenues - the equivalent cost of the project - and the availability of private funding still severely impacted, neither the Government nor the private sector was in a position to proceed at this point in time.
“I’m committed to building projects like the M4 East and the M5 East duplication, but we will find the solutions together and I’m determined to keep talking about them,” he said.
Notwithstanding, Mr Daley said there was good news for the road industry with the State Government’s record $4.4 billion 09/10 roads budget, coupled with the $7.5 billion in Federal funding it would manage over the next five years.
“This includes funding for major projects like the $1.7 billion Hunter Expressway as well as the continued upgrade of the iconic Pacific Highway,” the Minister said.
Mr Daley confirmed his openness to exploring different delivery models involving the private sector to ensure the best individual outcome for each major road project.
“The nature of commercial arrangements should be flexible. The job should determine the contract, not the other way around,” he said.
Mr Daley also indicated his support for the Alliance model “where it’s appropriate”.
“One of the things it does is share the work around, and I do like the philosophy of creating the right conditions in the road sector for smaller contractors to become medium contractors, and for medium contractors to grow and play with the big boys,” he said.
Mr Daley committed to continue working closely with the roads industry through Roads Australia on a range of issues, including greater certainty in the planning of projects.
This year’s National Road Summit, sponsored by RA members ARRB, SKM and Hyder, ran under the theme of Foresight and included presentations on congestion pricing and road financing, sustainability, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), the challenges and opportunities for delivering road projects in the current economic climate, and RA’s policy initiatives.
The presentations from the 2009 Summit will be available shortly and sent directly to all registered attendees.
The $2.25 billion M80 Ring Road upgrade is one step closer with the announcement last month of VicRoads' alliance partners for the first major works between Tullamarine Freeway and Sydney Road.
In a joint statement, Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, and Victorian Minister for Roads and Ports, Tim Pallas, announced that Thiess, Parsons Brinckerhoff and Hyder Consulting would join VicRoads on the Tulla-Sydney Alliance.
Mr Albanese said works would begin early next year to widen the Ring Road, with extra lanes, interchange improvements and the installation of new freeway management systems.
"The M80 Upgrade will provide significant benefits by improving safety and reliability, easing congestion and decreasing travel times, especially during peak periods," Mr Albanese said.
Works to begin early next year include:
"In addition to the Alliance works between Tullamarine Freeway and Sydney Road the M80 upgrade includes future works to provide extra lanes and enhanced traffic management systems for the full 38 kilometre Ring Road route," Mr Pallas said.
Other improvements as part of the upgrade that are underway or due to commence include:
The M80 Ring Road upgrade is jointly funded by the Rudd Labor Government and the Brumby Labor Government.
Major sections of Brisbane’s rapidly expanding busway network have opened today.
The $366 million Eastern Busway opened this morning, together with stage one of the $198 million Northern Busway.
Transport Minister, Rachel Nolan, said today represented a huge day for public transport.
“Together these busways are taking more than 7000 buses and more than 200,000 passengers per week off our roads and they’re cutting travel time,” Ms Nolan said.
In other Queensland road and transport news, preliminary works have commenced on the $613 million Bruce Highway (Cooroy to Curra) upgrade from Sankeys Road to Traveston Road.
And the seven-kilometre motorway north of Brisbane’s Gateway Bridge was officially opened to traffic last month, providing a more direct route north of the Brisbane River, alleviating congestion on the existing motorway and enhancing access to the city.
Dr Max Lay is the 2009 recipient of the Australian road industry’s top award for outstanding achievement, the John Shaw Medal.
Dr Lay, an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia, was presented with the Medal in front of 250 industry peers at a glittering Awards dinner, sponsored by Bilfinger Berger Australia, during last week’s National Roads Summit.
Introducing Dr Lay, Roads Australia Chief Executive, Ian Webb, described him as a ‘great industry mentor’ who had profoundly influenced civil engineering in Australia through his work with organisations as diverse as VicRoads, ARRB, RACV, SKM and Melbourne’s CityLink.
“His public service is underpinned by scholarship and innovation. Max has written over 700 publications, including works that are internationally recognised as seminal texts,” Mr Webb said.
In accepting his Award, Dr Lay stressed the importance of road builders leaving a lasting and substantive legacy for the community.
“When we build and design a road we’re leaving something not just for us, but for generations to come,” he said.
“We ought to do it right, and we ought to make sure it looks great. Because it doesn’t cost anymore to produce a good road then it does a bad road. It just requires design inspiration and dedication.”
Dr Lay was presented with his Medal by Bilfinger Berger Australia Chairman, the Hon Nick Greiner. Among the guests on the night were four past recipients of the Medal - Neil Doyle, Colin Jordan, Tom Wilmot and Geoff Youdale.
A number of major South Australian road projects have reached significant milestones in the past week.
Last week saw the opening of the Angle Vale Bridge, the first of 15 new bridges to be constructed as part of the $564 million Northern Expressway project.
Meantime, Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, also opened the newly duplicated section of the Sturt Highway between Gawler and Daveyston, four months ahead of schedule and under budget.
The project was the third and final stage of the Federal Government’s $159 million investment in the Highway between Adelaide and Riverland – a major freight and tourist route.
In other road news from South Australia, a consortium led by RA member AECOM has been awarded a contract to conduct the planning study for Adelaide's South Road upgrade at Darlington.
The consortium will further develop plans for a grade separation of South Road and Sturt Road and investigate an extension of the Tonsley Rail Line to the Flinders Medical Centre.
A review of the national Performance Based Standards (PBS) reform has identified improvements to ensure the scheme realises the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) objective for “continuous productivity gains”.
Introduced in October 2007, the PBS scheme allows operators to apply for access to the road network based on the vehicle’s ability to stop, turn and travel safely without damaging roads or bridges.
National Transport Commission Chief Executive, Nick Dimopoulos, said the position paper released last month identified a practical way forward for PBS to meet the needs of regulators, operators and manufacturers.
"The PBS Scheme is a win-win outcome for government and industry. It provides a robust risk assessment tool to give regulators confidence that high productivity vehicles - which require fewer trips for the same freight task - are safe to operate on suitable roads,” he said.
“PBS also delivers more flexibility, so transport businesses can work smarter, not harder, to maintain downward pressure on freight costs.”
Key improvements put forward by government and industry during consultation include:
Mr Dimopoulos said valuable contributions from government and industry during consultation ensured PBS was well positioned to realise its full productivity and safety potential.
NTC also supports improvements to existing access arrangements, such as for B-triples on road-train routes.
NTC will prepare a draft regulatory impact statement for consideration by the Australian Transport Council (ATC) in 2010. Putting legislation in place will offer greater certainty and ensure PBS becomes a clear, nationally consistent scheme for delivering improvements in the road freight industry, the organisation says.
To get a copy of the PBS Review, click here.
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Monday August 3rd 2009 2:47pm
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