Roads Australia
The national media has continued to closely monitor the major road spending announcements of both the Coalition and Federal Labor over the past fortnight, suggesting road transport is playing out as an issue of some substance in the campaign.
The latest announcements from both parties are summarised in this edition of Insider (see below).
In other news, the Courier Mail reported on a survey that found morning traffic delays jumped by 25 per cent in Brisbane last year.
In Sydney, the SMH reported on calls by road safety experts to reduce all existing 60kmh speed limits in urban areas to 50 kmh, and as low as 30kmh in busy pedestrian zones. But the report said both the RTA and the NRMA did not support changes to the existing speed limits.
The Herald also reported on Census figures that showed the number of people cycling to work had risen by 18 per cent, and those using scooters and motorbikes by 27 per cent. However, overall the figures were still tiny compared to the numbers who drove to work by car.
The Coalition has promised a new $300 million program to improve key regional roads if re-elected.
Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister, Mark Vaile, this week announced the Coalition’s 2020 Plan for Local Roads.
It includes a new Development Roads program of $300 million over six years to improve critically important roads in regional Australia, and an extra $550 million over six years for the existing Strategic Regional program.
Mr Vaile said the upgrade of these key roads would be undertaken on a partnership basis with local, state and territory governments.
“Our first project will be a $20 million commitment to the Capricorn Highway between Rockhampton and Emerald, a key road for the coal and beef industries,” he said.
Meantime, the Coalition has added to its promised road spending in Queensland with announcements of:
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh reportedly told news agency AAP this week that while she would work with the Coalition, the new Toowoomba road was clearly a Federal responsibility and no state money would be pledged.
Both Federal Labor and the Coalition Government have released details of major road funding commitments in WA.
The Coalition last week promised a $405 million upgrade of Perth’s road network, including a $232.5 million series of works to improve road access to Perth Airport, and upgrades to provide improved connections to Fremantle Port.
The Perth Urban Road Package includes $100 million to upgrade the Tonkin Highway from Leach Highway to Roe Highway including:
Other key components of the Coalition package include:
The Prime Minister said the projects would be done in partnership with the WA Government in line with the previously announced AusLink 2 rules.
Meanwhile, Federal Labor announced its own package of AusLink 2 funding for WA worth $589 million. It includes:
Federal Labor has promised to invest almost $2.2 billion over five years to upgrade Queensland’s Bruce Highway – including $450 million on major new road works in the Townsville region.
The funding comes on top of $95 million for the Townsville Port Access Road and $40 million towards the Gairloch Floodway near Ingham.
Labor says it would boost Bruce Highway funding by reallocating some of the $1.2 billion saved by implementing its plan to upgrade the Ipswich Motorway rather than the Coalition Government’s plan to spend $2.3 billion on the 8km Goodna Bypass.
The funding for the Bruce Highway brings to $4.7 billion the value of commitments made for Queensland roads by Federal Labor.
Other key Labor road funding announcements of the past fortnight have focussed on Victoria, and include:
To date, Labor has promised Victoria $1.87 billion in AusLink 2 funding.
Labor also this week pledged $303 million for road and rail transport initiatives in southern Tasmania.
New laws introduced into Victoria’s Parliament this week will reduce the risk posed by heavy driver vehicle fatigue and improve driver working conditions, says Minister for Roads and Ports, Tim Pallas.
Mr Pallas says the Road Legislation Further Amendment Bill sees Victoria lead the nation in introducing to Parliament a national model of fatigue management for drivers of heavy vehicles.
“This new model, developed by the National Transport Commission, allows for a more flexible approach to fatigue management,” Mr Pallas said.
“Operators will choose to use one of the three fatigue management options for their drivers – Standard Hours, Basic Fatigue Management and Advanced Fatigue Management.
“Under the Basic Fatigue Management model, for example, the maximum number of hours a truck driver can drive in any 24 hour period is 14 hours, and the driver must have seven hours of continuous rest.”
Operators will require accreditation from VicRoads to operate under the Basic and Advanced Fatigue Management options.
Mr Pallas says the new model allows VicRoads inspectors to issue written notices to truck drivers to take a rest stop or stop work immediately if they have been found to be working in excess of the permitted hours or have not had the required rest.
“Inspectors will also have the power to issue improvement notices to drivers and operators,” he says.
“Truck drivers would carry a work diary to support the new flexible working arrangements, replacing the current log book. They would be required to provide more detailed information in their work diary, including clearly recording their hours of works and rest.
“The new law also places greater responsibility on truck operators in terms of managing their drivers fatigue, recognising their role in making sure their drivers are operating safely.”
A project highlighting the need for safer driving around roadworks was one of seven award winners honoured at the 20th annual Queensland Main Roads Excellence Awards this week.
Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt attended the ceremony, where 17 project teams were acknowledged for their outstanding contributions to service delivery.
There were 46 nominations across eight categories for this year's Excellence Awards.
The Safety Around Roadworks – It's a Two-Way Street campaign, launched in March this year, won the Engaging with the Community category and also took out the prestigious Director-General's Relationship Award for best representation of the department's vision and goals.
The other award-winning project teams were:
ARF members FRH Group and John Holland Group have each been recognised at the Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) 2007 National Earth Awards for construction excellence.
FRH Group won the Category 3 Award for its successful delivery of the Murray River Bridge project in Cobram-Barooga. The project involved the design and construction of a 200-metre, six span dual lane bridge over the Murray River, and approximately 1km of roadworks.
The project team received its award in recognition of its commitment to innovation and construction excellence that resulted in the project being completed seven weeks early.
John Holland Group won the Catgeory 4 Award in conjunction with VicRoads and Connex for the Middleborough Road Rail Separation Project.
The $54 million Taylors Road upgrade in Melbourne’s west has passed a major milestone with the completion of the new rail bridge at St Albans.
Minister for Roads and Ports, Tim Pallas, says Taylors Road is a key east-west arterial for local traffic and through traffic accessing residential growth areas, as well as the Calder Freeway and the Western Ring Road.
“This is a vital project for Melbourne’s west and work is scheduled for completion in early 2009,” he says.
The following stories appear courtesy of World Highways.
Tunnel boom
Large numbers of tunnelling projects are now underway, with contractors and clients able to choose from a wide array of more efficient solutions.
The tunnelling industry is seeing huge growth around the world, due to a pressing need for major infrastructure projects. Road tunnel construction is underway in many countries, as a way of bypassing both mountainous and environmentally sensitive areas or providing traffic links under rivers and in congestion clogged cities.
Large tunnel projects are underway at present in parts of Asia such as India or China, in Latin America's Andes Mountains and across Europe.
To reads this article in full, go to the World Highways website.
Round and around
With the permissions process becoming ever more restrictive for the quarrying industry in Europe, the squeeze on the supply of new aggregates for construction becomes ever tougher. As a result, the recycling of materials is an increasingly attractive proposition for the road building industry. There are numerous technologies in use already, such as re-using milled material extracted during road planing.
However, new and even more sophisticated techniques and processes are now coming to market. While many of these systems have been around in prototype form for some time, the methodologies have been refined while the incentives to use them grow stronger every day.
To read this article in full, go to the World Highways website.
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Friday November 2nd 2007 2:05pm
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