Roads Australia
A series of articles in last week’s Sydney Morning Herald on the flight of Sydneysiders to Brisbane and Melbourne prompted a week of navel gazing by media in the harbour city, with road congestion and lack of public transport cited as among the major reasons behind the exodus.
At least one expert quoted in the Herald cited the need for consideration of a congestion tax, alongside calls for the completion of key missing roads links and greater investment in public transport, particularly new rail lines to car-dependent suburbs in the north-west of the city.
The Daily Telegraph reported this week that higher petrol prices were prompting Sydney commuters to abandon their cars in favour of public transport. The Tele quoted figures citing 700,000 additional morning peak passenger trips on government buses in January, compared to the same time last year.
In Melbourne, the Herald Sun last week reported on a Monash University study that foreshadowed three million plus private vehicles on the city’s roads within 30 years, up from the current 1.97 million. The Herald Sun described this as a recipe for a traffic congestion nightmare.
Meantime both the Age and the Herald Sun reported this week on a bus industry study that found transport in Melbourne produced more greenhouse gas emissions than London, despite Melbourne having half the population of the British capital.
The Australian Financial Review reported last week that the National Transport Commission was calling on the Federal Government to phase out its FBT concession for company cars as a means of addressing urban congestion.
And the road user pricing model advocated by ARF member the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) in its Federal Budget submission has received widespread media coverage. As reported in the last Insider, the AAA is calling for the replacement of existing state and federal road taxes with a road user charge.
New 'black box' technology that makes it more difficult for truckies to drive for too long or at high speeds are amongst the measures contained in the Federal Government's $70 million plan to tackle the ongoing loss of life on Australian roads.
The four-year Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Plan was announced by Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese at the conclusion of the meeting of state and federal transport ministers held in Canberra on February 29.
The meeting also reached agreement on overhauling heavy vehicle charging.
The Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Plan will fund:
“It is our intention to directly involve the trucking industry in the process of putting the available funds to the best possible use,” Mr Albanese said.
“At the same time we will work with the states and territories to investigate the introduction of mandatory, periodic health checks for heavy vehicle drivers as well as undertake further work on new national standards for random drug and alcohol testing.
“As well as improving road safety, our Plan will help lift national productivity by funding upgrades to the road network such as the strengthening of bridges.
“This targeted investment in the road network will open more roads to heavy vehicles, freeing up the movement of freight across the country and easing congestion.”
Mr Albanese said the much greater investment in road safety and transport productivity had been made possible by the decision to overhaul heavy vehicle charges.
Under the new regime recommended by the National Transport Commission, registration fees for 25 percent of the nation's 365,000 heavy vehicles will be cut while the fees on 69 per cent of the fleet will rise by between one and ten percent.
“While larger increases are proposed for the six percent of heavy vehicles that currently don't pay their fair share, they will be phased-in over three years to minimise the impact on the industry,” the Minister said.
The component of the heavy vehicle charge collected by the Commonwealth from fuel used by trucks and buses - the Road User Charge - will be increased by 1.367 cents per litre and indexed to cover future road costs.
However the increase to the Road User Charge will take effect from 1 January 2009 - not 1 July 2008 as recommended by the NTC.
The South Australian Government has announced early planning for a new billion-dollar 14km road and rail freight corridor in Adelaide’s north – the first dual-use project in the State’s history.
Transport Minister Patrick Conlon said last week a planning study would determine the preferred alignment and feasibility of a proposed joint road/rail route to be built in a new corridor to the west of Port Wakefield Road.
The Northern Connector project – which is estimated to cost $1 billion dependent on construction timing – would secure the long-term freight needs in Adelaide’s north and take freight trains out of the suburbs around Salisbury and Parafield.
Initial investigations reveal a Northern Connector would comprise:
While the State Government is funding the planning study, a future Northern Connector would be a joint Federal and State undertaking funded under the Auslink program - reflecting the project’s status as a transport link of national importance.
The planning study will involve contact with the owners of 200 properties, about half of which are expected to be affected by the final corridor. It will include a full economic analysis, establish environmental processes and outline an approach for design and construction.
The South Australian Road Transport Association, the South Australian Freight Council and the RAA have indicated their support for investment in the project.
The planning study and associated environmental impact assessments are expected to be finished by the end of 2009, and a completed project could be operational by 2017.
The RTA has today launched its 2008 to 2012 corporate plan, known as The Blueprint, outlining key priorities and milestones the organisation will deliver over the next four years and beyond.
The Blueprint drives the organisational planning and performance management processes.
Aligned with the NSW State Plan and other NSW Government priorities and strategies, the Blueprint agenda, while not covering all aspects of the RTA's operations, sets the priorities and focus areas for the organisation in the shorter term. These are:
To download a copy of the Blueprint, go to the RTA website.
The first sod was turned last week on what Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese calls the most important roads project in south-east Queensland - the Ipswich Motorway upgrade.
The Federal Government has provided $700 million for the Stage 1 of the Wacol to Darra project, which will initially upgrade three kilometres of the Motorway, starting with the interchange at Centenary Highway.
Leighton Contractors has been appointed as the principal contractor by Queensland Main Roads to deliver Stage 1 as a key member of the SAFElkink Alliance. Leighton Contractors will join Main Roads, BMD Constructions, Arup and Maunsell Australia in the SAFElink Alliance to design and construct the road upgrade.
Once completed, the upgraded motorway from Wacol to Darra is expected to:
Mr Albanese says over the next five years, the Federal and Queensland governments will undertake a staged upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway from Darra to Dinmore as part of a plan to address urban congestion and improve freight access in the south-east.
A funding proposal for a major new Australian research program on the safety, efficiency and performance of heavy road transport vehicles has now been formally put to the Federal and state governments.
The proposed program involves pursuit of research-based improvement in heavy vehicle design, operations and impacts, with a new Australian Truck & Bus Research & Information Centre [ATBRIC] as its focal point.
The proposal was presented to new Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, and his state counterparts by ARRB Group in January.
ATBRIC will require multi-year funding mainly from government sources, as the research priorities during the first five-year period of its existence will be predominantly ‘public interest’ matters.
The ATBRIC concept along with the proposed research program have flowed from a comprehensive Scoping Study on heavy vehicle safety and efficiency research needs in Australia, undertaken by ARRB in 2006-07.
The study, which enlised the financial asssistance and/or support of governments, transport authorities, industry and research institutions, identified the major challenges ahead in infrastructure adequacy, heavy vehicle performance, congestion, safety, shortage of skilled drivers, overall driver performance, other workplace factors and road transport’s environmental and social impacts. Further improvement in the safety, efficiency and productivity of heavy vehicle (HV) operations in Australia is both critical and achievable, the study concluded, and recommended new strategically targeted HV research, aimed specifically at Australian purposes and conditions.
As well as using state-of-the-art technology for HV research activities that cannot be safely conducted ‘live’ in open road conditions, the ATBRIC will ensure more comprehensive data collection and analysis on all major aspects of HV operations and issues and be a hub for research networking and collaboration, within Australia and internationally.
The new program’s overall R&D focus will also be quite relevant – directly and indirectly - to the ‘climate change’, ‘energy efficiency’ and environment concerns now being addressed vigorously by the Australian Government and its state counterparts.
The ATBRIC proposal already has the support of the National Transport Commission (NTC), as well as the Victorian Transport Association (VTA), and has also had some impact on the framing of the new national Transport Policy Framework. Pending a more decisive government response, ARRB is already moving to form an Advisory Council to help formulate and oversee the ATBRIC research strategy, plans and operations.
If government funding for ATBRIC is achieved soon, ARRB is confident the program and the Centre can still be operationalized within 2008.
Registration is now open for the Australian Road Forum’s Annual Summit, to be held at the Stamford Plaza Hotel at Double Bay in Sydney on 17 and 18 June.
Sponsored by Shell Bitumen, ARRB Group and Pitt & Sherry, the 2008 Summit has as its theme ‘Roads as a Business’.
The Summit is the peak annual gathering for the major stakeholders in Australia's road industry and will attract the executive staff of the major roading organisations across the country.
Over 150 delegates attended last year’s Summit.
For more information including full Dinner details, or to register on-line for the Summit, please see www.halledit.com.au/conferences/arfsummit/2008 or Contact Denise McQueen, 03 8534 5021, denise.mcqueen@halledit.com.au
For more information on Sponsorship or Exhibition please contact Scott Matthews on ph 03 8534 5004, mob 0431 704 517 or email scott.matthews@halledit.com.au
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Friday March 14th 2008 5:46pm
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